Yes. It has been a ridiculously long time. Yes. I do this every time I need to post a new chapter. Yes. I am aware that apologizing every time has whittled down my sincerity till it was nothing. My life has been a mess recently. In the last three months I had my final exams, final projects, six job interviews, traveled out of state 12 times, moved out of an apartment, moved into an apartment, and started a new full time position. Safe to say that I haven't really had the time to sit down and think. Still, I did manage to finish this chapter and I have not abandoned this story. It will just probably take longer to get chapters out. I have to get settled into my new schedule because working early shift in a plant doesn't leave you with much sleep.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Enjoy

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

The soil was warm between his bare toes. Or perhaps it was just warmer than the freezing fog that was pouring from between the trees. Harry was standing in the middle of a clearing, trees surrounding him fading into the black backdrop of the never ending forest. The smell of mold and mildew seeped into him, his nose crinkled at the unpleasant smell. Harry wasn't tempted to explore the forest though it wouldn't have mattered if he had. Around his ankles sat two heavy metal cuffs, the cold iron digging into his delicate skin. The cuffs were attached to metal posts driven deep into the ground, a single chain link meaning Harry couldn't do more than slide his foot two centimeters. His skin broke out in goose bumps as the fog continued to creep towards him, the water settling on his skin and sapping any warmth that his body had.

Harry the winds whispered. Harry whipped his head around looking for a source. A drop of water landing on his face made him look upward. Another drop quickly followed, and then another. Suddenly it was pouring. The water was hot and sticky, slowly dripping down his body. He gasped in surprised and that was when he realized that he wasn't covered in water.

Blood. The coopery substance filled his mouth in a moment and his throat spasmed as he tried to gag and scream at the same time. He dropped his head, vomiting up the blood and what little bile he had festering in his stomach. As he heaved the rain fell hard, pushing on his shoulders until he couldn't help but buckle. The ground dug into his knees, stones and sticks pricking his skin harshly, Harry kept his eyes screwed shut, desperate not to give the blood any entry into his body. His skin crawled in disgust but there was nothing left for him to throw up.

Just as suddenly as it started the rain stopped. Harry tried to stand, slipping across the slick grass that was now coated in living blood. Twice he crashed to the ground but still he needed to stand. He dig the heels of his hands across his eyes, using slick skin to try and brush away the syrupy blood. When he finally opened his eyes he was not alone.

Cedric was standing before him. His skin was a sickly grey, sunken, and wrinkled with time. Harry shuddered when he looked up expecting to find lifeless eyes and was greeted with empty chasms.

"The Potter boy. I want him." The corpse hissed, not in the voice of the body's owner but in the cold hisses of Lord Voldemort. "I will destroy him."

From the fog a loud hiss shuddered the branches of the trees. A snake, the size of Nagini slid from the darkness. The silver scaled reptile slid towards Harry, fangs bared and eyes glowing with the sickly power of the killing curse. Harry tried to pull at his bonds but found that he could not move. He turned towards Cedric, looking for hope, for freedom. Cedric stared on with an eyeless and emotionless glare. Soft scales brushed against his ankle, jolting him back towards his hunter. The snake twisted around his leg, climbing his body. Harry tried to shake his leg but with the short chain he could barely move. He shuddered as he felt the muscles curling around his thigh and curling upwards. The body wrapped around his waist and then up and around his stomach.

The snake squeezed and Harry's breath became shallow. He desperately tried to pull in air as he pushed against the beast. When he tried to push him off the head swung around and sunk his fangs into his hands. With a yelp he pulled his hand towards his chest. The bite was bright red, with trails of black creeping up his arm. The poison trickled up his arm, the cold pain seeping through his veins. The cool scales circles around his neck constricting his breath until all he could make was whiny little gasp. The snake turned its head towards himself, fangs dripping. All Harry could do was watch as snake launched himself forward.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

With a shuddering gasp Harry woke up in his bed. With a curse he sat up. Nightmares had been plaguing him for a while now. Every morning he wondered if he should tell Snape and every morning he decided not to. It seemed so trivial. Nightmares had always been a constant in his life. These weren't of past horrors or anything. Just his fucked up mind punishing him for Cedric. So instead he went through the routine of changing out of his sweaty pajamas and splashing water on his face so he didn't look like he woke up petrified.

"Can the bat man not help?" Labyrinth hissed from his stone. For some reason he had been insisting that Snape has the essence of a bat. Harry had tried before to explain why the potions master was not Batman. But to do so he had to explain reading, then comics, then superheroes, then DC comics before finally getting to Batman. Since the snake normally lost his attention span when Harry started explaining how pictures become stories he had long given up. Now he will just have to deal with the brief images of his professor in spandex until Labyrinth decides on a new nickname.

"He doesn't know." Harry replied, pulling on his clothes for breakfast. He was a little later than normal. His internal wakeup call was beginning to relax.

"Why?" The snake badgered, black beady eyes trained on Harry as he tried to pat down his hair to no avail.

"Just because." He huffed, not appreciating the snake sticking his scaly nose into his business. "I'm going down now, I'll bring you a mouse for dinner tonight."

Harry slipped down the stairs, vaguely wondering if there would still be food on the table. Not that he didn't have full range of the kitchen when he wanted to but he was starting to enjoy having someone else cook for him. Not in the same way that the elves did, for hundreds of students like a conveyer belt. Having someone who cooked for him, well it made him feel warm.

He stopped just outside the kitchen when he heard the low murmur of conversation. Snape's deep rumble paused for the light tenor of a response. Alex should have been gone by now. At ten o'clock on a Tuesday he should've been in his office a long time ago. The man in question was leaning over the kitchen table, staring closely at a large pile of newspapers. At least a dozen papers were spread across the dark wood.

"Harry." Alex started when he heard his steps into the room.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, approaching the table. He watched as Alex placed his hand over one of the papers headlines. But his fingers could only partially cover the picture. Harry could recognize his own face, fluttering between a fake smile and a scowl from the photo shoot of the Triwizard champions.

"Potter, come and sit." Snape directed, motioning to the chair to his left.

"Severus." Alex growled, sending a nervous glance at Harry. Snape just raised an eyebrow and motioned to Harry again. Harry didn't look away from the papers as he waked to the assigned seat.

"We would have shown you this earlier if we had known about it. Since neither I nor Alex are ones to read the societal pages we were unaware until we saw the Prophet this morning." Snape explained, picking up a paper from the pile and throwing it so it landed with a distinct 'thump' in front of the teen.

HARRY POTTER INSANE OR ATTENTION SEEKER?

There has been much speculation about the mental state of Mr. Potter of late. There was a lot of confusion when Mr. Potter returned after being taken away covered in blood with the body of his school mate. He claimed, more than once that the person who did it was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Some people claim that he was crazy, that he was hallucinating. A fe people said that it was because he saw something horrific, others say that he was crazy before and that he was now just showing his true colors.

Some people say that he is just doing it for attention. Now that the tournament has ended there would be no more reports on him. So instead he concocted a scandal in an attempt to get everyone talking about him. After over a month of speculation the Ministry had given its official statement.

"A great tragedy has befallen right before Mr. Potters eyes. It is our belief Bartimus Crouch Jr. did he best to convince Mr. Potter that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did return. We made it quite clear that it did not happen that way, to the public and Mr. Potter. We would not like to make a statement as to why Mr. Potter is still insistent on his side of the story."

"What?" Harry yelped, accidentally crunching the paper in his hand.

"The ministry is still determined to deny the Dark Lords existence, which means they have officially decided to throw you under the bus. Unfortunately stories like that had been running for the last month and we hadn't realized it." Snape explained. He nodded towards the other pages on the table. A mural of headlines stood out, some calling him crazy, other sympathizing for the poor boy who saw a tragedy, while many berated him for being a fame hungry menace. There wasn't a single title that didn't make his blood boil.

"I saw the prophet this morning at work. When I asked my secretary about it she told me about the earlier stories." Alex explained, scowling heavily at the writing.

"But . . . How could they? This isn't fucking fair!" Harry yelled.

"Language Harry." Snape admonished.

"Language?! Who the hell cares about my language when an entire government is calling me crazy on the front page of the damn newspaper?"

"And you shouting in my kitchen is going to change that how?" Snape raised an imperious eyebrow. Harry huffed but didn't answer back, since there wasn't a really good answer to that. He flapped his arms, angry at the world but with nothing to do about it. Eventually his silent hissy-fit settled down and he was just glaring at the paper. Both Alex and Snape were quiet as he tried to work through his anger.

"So what now?"

"Personally I would not be worried about those stories." Alex said, looking intently at the paper in his hand, missing the incredulous look that Harry gave him.

"Not be worried? The fucking ministry is calling me a fame obsessed mad man!" Harry barked, smacking one of the papers. "What else would I worry about?"

"The opinions of the public is fickle. As a result the government is often switching opinions and changing their story. People may be obsessed with it now but if you manage to keep an even keel things will eventually settle down." Alex explained. "Trust me, most people prefer to blame the government over a child. Better to stay out of a fight you won't win and wait until the tides have shifted in your favor before you go and attempt to take on an entire legislative body. Better things to be concerned about. "

With a heavy look he handed the paper to his husband. Snape's black eyes roved the page, searching for what his partner had failed to specifically point to. Suddenly his lips pulled into a sneer. With a flick of his wrist he tossed the page so it landed on top of the pile and Harry could finally see what they were so unhappy about.

Dementors On The Loose!

Author: Bings Burgandy

Reports have just come in that two dementors were found on the loose in a muggle neighborhood. Last night at 7:48 pm the Aurors were called to the neighborhood of Little Winging to reports of an unnatural fog and intense depression. The two dementors had cornered a group of teenage muggle boys. The Aurors were quick to banish the creatures, stopping them before they could do any real damage. There is wide spread fear that some of the dementors were going rouge. Since it is so difficult to fight them many are worried that if the dementors can get loose the havoc that they can wreak will be astronomical.

The ministry responded with comments that there is no danger of a mass escape of dementors from Azkaban. They maintain that they still have perfect control over the dark creatures and that there is no reason to worry. The representative refused to comment on questions pertaining to the idea that if they have perfect control that they were sent there intentionally. They have, however, mentioned that you should always take normal safety precautions, but protection charms if you can and always have a means of communication in case of an emergency.

"That's my neighborhood. Why were there dementors in my neighborhood?" Harry asked in stunned surprise.

"Why indeed." Snape answered cryptically.

"I'm not sure." Alex said, which was more direct but just as useless of a statement. "It could be a number of things. It could be that they really did get loose and the fact that they were found was just a large coincidence." Here Snape interrupted with an audible tsk. "Yes I am well aware of your dislike of the belief in coincidence. My statement still stands. Though that might be the most preferred answer, it comes with its own lists of concerns we would have to deal with. The other options are more worrying."

"What do you mean?"

"If it is not a coincidence that means it was intentional. Those creatures were sent to your neighborhood. You being the only wizard there would mean that they were sent there for you. And you don't send dementors to invite someone to a tea party." Snape sneered, giving Harry a look that Harry always translated to 'why the hell do I have to answer these inane obvious questions to someone so useless'.

"If they were sent after you deliberately that could mean three things. One, that there is someone in the ministry that has a good amount of power that has an enormous grudge against you and fully intends to see it through. Two that this was sanctioned by the government itself, and our elected officials have decided that your life is worth less than the ability to keep the rise of Voldemort a secret."

"And three?" Harry asked as the silence began to toe at uncomfortability.

"Three means that the Dark Lord has gained the loyalty of the Dementors and sent them after you. It means that he not only wants you dead but that he has more control of the government than we had even begin to think. That at any moment he could stroll onto Azkaban and release all of his most loyal followers and double his army in a day." Snape finally said, his voice deep and heavy as he gave his predication.

"Right." Harry stated for lack of a better thing to say. "Well I can't say that I like any of those options but some are worse than others."

"That is a . . . succinct way to put it. Unfortunately there is little that we can do. As long as no one knows where you are there should be no real danger for you. Just remember to get your protection spells any time that you leave this barrier. We are lucky that we decided to sequester you here." Snape said, pointedly ignoring the smug look that came over Alex's face. "Until it is time for you to leave the best thing we can do is have you stay inside as much as possible."

"But what if the ministry really is trying to kill me?" Harry asked, whipping his head between the both of them in search of an answer.

"There is little we can do without solid evidence." Alex shrugged. "You do not go to war without knowing who your enemy is. For now we feign ignorance and let our enemies stew in their defeat. Someone who is as bold as this will show their hand before long. Then, we can begin thinking of ways to retaliate." Harry wanted to grumble about that. He was more quick to action than either of these two long time Slytherins. Fast to protect himself and others at the slightest bit of danger or degradation. Though thinking on that, most of the time his "quick thinking" lead him into more trouble than it was worth.

"You really think that the person who did this will reveal themselves?" He queried, his fingers tapping on the black print like a twitch.

"I dare say that this was most likely a first attempt. Too poorly prepared and thought through to be a second or third attempt. To start with something so bold and out in the open for a first attempt at murder? This is a person with little subtly and they are likely to lash out due to the failure of their plans. If it is a single person, which it is most likely to be, then they will reveal themselves before long." Snape explained, pulling a long sip from his coffee.

"On the note of revealing stupidity, I must be off." Alex said, sweeping his suit jacket over his shoulder. He blew a kiss to Severus, patting Harry heavily on the shoulder as he passed by. "Don't burn down the house again." He called as he strode to the fire place.

"Don't get arrested again." Snape answered back, wicked grin on his face.

"One fucking time." Alex muttered with a scowl as he disappeared into the flames. There was smoldering silence as the two were left alone in the kitchen full of newspapers. Harry dragged his finger against one, tracing the edge of a photo of himself. It was the group photo of the tournament where Rita had demanded that he sit in the chair circled by his competitors. The unhappy grimace on his face now seemed to radiate smugness next to the title. Suddenly the paper jumped from under his fingers. He glanced up to see them all flying towards the fireplace. They folded on top of each other before suddenly bursting into a bright flame, reminding Harry of the magician he had seen as a child, long before he knew magic was real.

"Sit and eat Harry. I dare say there is a lot of work to be done and things for you to learn. It is your OWL's year after all."

"Owls?" Harry queried.

"OWLs? Your examinations? I am sure that it has been mentioned a number of times in class."

"Oh." Harry tried to stop his blush. He had heard of them but tended to zone out in class when a professor brought them up. Snape sighed loudly. He raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Harry did not want to know what the man was muttering under his breath.

"Eat Harry." So he ate.