Chapter Fifty-two

"Dad!" Harry yelled, bounding down the long flight of stairs. Once he met the man at the bottom, he looked at him worriedly. "Dad, where's Nathaniel? I finished getting ready and couldn't find him anywhere."

"He's out with Amaryllis again," Snape replied, studying Harry for a moment. When he was satisfied with the way Harry looked, he led Harry into the dining room. "You look perfect. Elizabeth should be here at any moment."

"Again?" Harry said in disbelief, talking about Nathaniel and Amaryllis. "Really, those two oughta get married! They spend enough time together. That way, if they get married, they could spend as much time together as they wanted."

Snape chuckled. "How true, Harry. Now, how does everything look?"

Harry looked around the room. It almost seemed to sparkle. "Perfect."

Grabbing Snape's hand, Harry led him to the living room, where they sat down on the sofa. Harry looked up at Snape and smiled.

"I really like Elizabeth, Dad. She's nice."

"I like her too," Snape admitted. "That's why I had this dinner arranged."

"It's just too bad that Nathaniel's not here," Harry said sadly. "He'll miss Elizabeth. He likes her, too."

Just then, the doorbell rang throughout the house, indicating that Elizabeth had arrived. Harry jumped up from the sofa to answer it.

"Hi, Elizabeth," he greeted enthusiastically as he opened the door, with Elizabeth standing on the threshold. She had a wonderful red dress on, and some of her golden hair was up with a clip, the rest was curled and hung loose. "You look really nice."

Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you, Harry. You look very handsome tonight." Then she looked up at caught Snape's eye. "As do you, Severus."

Snape held his hand out, and Elizabeth took it. He led her into the dining room with Harry following behind them.

"The food looks gorgeous," Elizabeth commented as she took her seat. "So does this whole house. It's as beautiful as the last time I was here."

"Well, I must say that you look very nice tonight," Snape said as he too took his seat across from Elizabeth; Harry sat in the next chair.

"You don't mind if I… put on my face, do you?" Elizabeth said with a smile and a laugh. "Just to powder my nose."

"No," Snape said. "Go ahead."

Elizabeth smiled again and stood up, walking towards the bathroom, which wasn't far away from the dining room.

"Do you know why I wore red today, Severus?" Elizabeth called from the bathroom.

Snape frowned briefly. "Why?"

Elizabeth's high-heels clicked on the floor as they became nearer.

"Because it's the color of blood."

Harry let out a surprised yelp as Elizabeth jabbed a knife through Snape's side. Except that when Harry looked up, it wasn't Elizabeth at all. It was Aureus. And in a blink of an eye, she disappeared, and there was a loud thud as Snape fell off his chair. He fell into a pool of his own blood.

"Dad," Harry choked out as he jumped from his chair and bent down to Snape's side. Already Harry was drenched in Snape's red, thick blood.

What's going on? Harry thought as he looked at Snape desperately. He's bleeding too fast. There's so much blood… so fast… I need help. I'm not a doctor, I can't help him.

Harry stood up from Snape's body and ran towards the door, only to have the door open and reveal Nathaniel and Amaryllis. Nathaniel had his arm around Amaryllis's waist, and they seemed to be laughing about something, but the laughter died once they took sight of Harry.

Amaryllis gasped, and Nathaniel rushed forward, his face pale and he seemed shaky.

"Bloody hell," Nathaniel breathed as he crouched down until he was the same height as Harry. His eyes were searching Harry for a wound. "W—what happened? Where're you hurt?"

"It's not my blood," Harry managed out in a hoarse voice, looking over at Snape's body. "Elizabeth was—was A-Aureus. S-she killed him. We—we need help!" Tears poured down Harry's cheeks.

Nathaniel paled even more as he looked down at Snape. "He's lost a lot of blood. Too much blood." Nathaniel crawled over to Snape, trying to find a pulse. He found none. "I—I'm sorry, Harry—"

A sob burst from Harry as he pushed past Nathaniel to go to Snape. "Wake up. Dad, c'mon, this isn't funny! Wake up!"

"Oh my god," Amaryllis said, her whole body trembling. "What's going on? Severus can't be dead, Nathaniel!" she looked up at him with frightened eyes. "What's going to happen to Harry? M-maybe we can adopt him. You and me."

Nathaniel sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her close. "'Lis—I don't think so. I mean, we're too young. The only other options are that Harry goes into custody of some relatives, but I don't think he has any, other than the Dursleys, but they won't have him back."

Amaryllis looked down at Harry, who was becoming soaked with the blood. "And the other option?"

Nathaniel avoided Amaryllis's gaze. "The orphanage."

-

Harry's eyes flew open, and his head was drenched with sweat. His eyes searched the room, which was currently so dark that he couldn't make anything out. That, and he didn't have his glasses on.

Harry gulped. Where was he? Was what had happened just a dream? Or was it real, and was he at the orphanage now?

He took a shaky hand and wiped some sweat off his face, but when he did he realized that it wasn't sweat. They were tears.

The light flicked on, illuminating the room. Harry groaned, squeezing his eyes shut until he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, causing him to jump. Then he felt his glasses be placed back on the bridge of his nose, and when he opened his eyes he saw Snape sitting beside him on the bed.

"What's wrong?" Snape asked, seeing that Harry's cheeks were wet. "I heard a noise."

Harry sniffed and went forward, throwing his arms around Snape's neck.

After a moment, Harry let go and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Sorry," he mumbled, sniffing. "I just…"

"What happened?" Snape didn't wait for Harry to explain, instead he wanted to get right to the point.

"It was just a dream. A plain, normal nightmare," Harry explained, keeping his eyes averted from Snape's.

Snape stayed quiet before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Harry said quickly. He never wanted to bring that dream up again. He didn't even want to think about it. "Not—not tonight."

"All right," Snape agreed, though he looked a bit reluctant to. "Go to sleep."

Snape went to stand up, but Harry grabbed onto his wrist. "Stay here," Harry said sleepily, pushing over to give Snape enough room to lay down. "Please."

Snape stayed quiet for a minute before he lay down beside Harry. Making sure that Snape wouldn't go anywhere during the night, Harry let his head rest on Snape's shoulder, and he held onto Snape's arm protectively.

"Never date anybody that's named Elizabeth," Harry muttered to Snape before drifting to sleep.

-

When Harry woke the next morning, he found that Snape had already left the room. Harry rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Nathaniel?" Harry murmured, fixing his glasses back onto his face after he grabbed them from the nightstand by his bed.

Wrong. Slyther, Slyther replied, sounding just as tired as he did. I can be Nathaniel if you want to. Hey, what's wrong? You don't look so good.

Harry didn't expect Slyther to remember what happened the night before anyway. After all, Slyther had slept through everything.

"Nothing," Harry muttered, stepping onto the floor. "Come on… let's go to breakfast. You can see Amaryllis after if you want."

Amaryllis! Slyther repeated as Harry went through his closet to find some clothes to wear. What made you possibly think that I want to see Amaryllis? It is you, mister Potter-Snape, my greatest friend in the world, that I want to spend my day with.

Harry snorted. "Somehow I don't believe that."

Oh, well, I tried, Slyther said airily. You know me too well. Now, my greatest friend in the world, what do you want to do today? It's just me and you!

After pulling a shirt over his head, Harry looked down at Slyther on the floor. "What do you want, Slyther?"

Want? Slyther repeated, pretending to sound confused. Why, whatever do you mean?

"You want something," Harry said, bending down to pick Slyther up before they went downstairs for breakfast. "What is it?"

Slyther sighed. I just need your help. Possibly Snape's too, hey, maybe even Amaryllis's!

Harry frowned, walking out of the room and through the hallway. "What kind of help?"

Um… the kind of help that involves looking for people, Slyther said. I just… wanted to find somebody. Or some people, it… depends.

"Who?"

My mum. And Dad. Or either, Slyther said. I mean, I haven't seen them in so long, it's not bad to want to see them again, is it? I mean, for all I know, they could be dead.

"I know the feeling," Harry said softly, remembering when he was younger and living with the Dursleys how he wished that he was able to see his parents. And then, he did, for a while at least. In his dreams.

So… will you help me?

"Sure," Harry agreed enthusiastically. "It'll be fun."

-

"Now," Snape started once Harry settled down in his chair in the dining room. "Would you care to explain what happened last night?"

"Not really," Harry said, as if it were nothing. "It's nothing, honestly."

"I don't believe that," Snape said as he set down his fork to look Harry in the eye. "And I most certainly don't appreciate you lying to me."

Harry kept his eyes down on his plate. "It's nothing," he said loudly. "Can't you just leave it alone?"

"No, I can't, because it was something and I'd like for you to tell me what happened," Snape said firmly, sounding a bit annoyed.

This time Harry sighed and looked up at Snape angrily. Couldn't he see that it hurt Harry to think about it, let alone talk about it? Why couldn't he just leave him alone?

"It's nothing," he said loudly, jumping up from the chair. "Nothing! I don't want to talk about it so just leave it alone!"

Harry didn't know why he was angry at Snape. He just… was. Without casting another glance behind him, Harry walked over to the door and opened it, then slammed it shut loudly behind him, wondering why he decided to leave the Snape manor instead of just going up to his bedroom. Anyway, where was he going to go, exactly?

-

"Harry!"

Harry didn't bother to turn around as he heard Nathaniel call after him. He just kept walking, though he didn't know where to. Anywhere… quiet. Peaceful.

"Wait up!" Nathaniel called, sounding a bit out of breath. Harry sighed and stopped, waiting for Nathaniel to catch up. "What's wrong?" Nathaniel asked once he was at Harry's side. "That was quite a scene back at the manor."

"Don't remind me," Harry said as he started to walk again. "I don't think I can ever go back there. I feel so ashamed now."

Nathaniel clapped a hand gently down on Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, kid. Snape seemed more upset than angry. So… where're you going?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "Somewhere. Just to calm down, to relax."

"Ah," Nathaniel smiled, looking content. "That sounds wonderful. Can I join you?"

"Sure," Harry agreed. "Let's look for somewhere nice that we can sit down at. Do you think there's a nice park here somewhere, maybe with a lake or something?"

"Well, you're asking me?" Nathaniel said with a laugh. "We should just look."

A few minutes later, they found a grassy park with a small river of water through some of it. In Harry's opinion, it looked peaceful, so he decided that they stop there.

"It's really sunny out," Harry observed. "The river looks nice."

"Yeah," Nathaniel agreed, dipping his fingers into the water. "So… can we talk?"

"Well, last time I checked, that's what we were doing," Harry joked, leaning against a big tree. Seeing Nathaniel's look, Harry nodded. "Yeah, okay, we can talk."

"Great," Nathaniel said, going up beside Harry. "Now, let's talk about what happened last night."

Harry groaned. "Did Severus ask you to come find me or something?"

Nathaniel genuinely looked surprised. "No, it was my own idea."

Harry sighed and looked up at Nathaniel, who was looking at Harry calmly. "I don't want to talk about it," Harry finally managed to say quietly.

Nathaniel was still for a moment before nodding his head. "Okay, I understand. But Harry, you have to know that Snape was just… concerned for you. I don't know what happened last night, but I'm guessing it was pretty serious. He only wanted to help."

Nathaniel was absolutely right, but Harry just didn't want to talk about it.

"It was just a dream," Harry said with a shrug, keeping his eyes fixed on the little river that was smoothly flowing along. "A nightmare."

He looked at his hands, and he instantly saw blood on them. He knew it was only a hallucination, that there really wasn't blood on them, but it didn't stop himself from shaking again at the dream. All the blood…

Harry closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he saw no blood on his hands.

"There was so much blood," he said out loud in a quiet, soft voice. "It was so… much. Just from a little stab… all that blood…"

Nathaniel swallowed. "Blood?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. I don't want to talk about it, I don't even know why—"

"You have to talk about it," Nathaniel said gently, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's the only way you'll get over it. Who knows, if you don't talk about it, who's to say that you won't have the exact same dream again tonight?"

Harry's eyes widened in horror as he looked up at Nathaniel. "You think?"

Nathaniel shrugged. "It's possible."

Harry nodded slowly. He didn't want to have the dream again tonight. "It was at the Snape manor," he finally said. "It was really nice at first. Y'know… me and Severus were there, just talking. It was nice."

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows. "You went through all that back there because of some dream that was really nice?"

Harry looked down. "No. That was only the first part. I forget her name, but there was this girl over for dinner with me and Severus—"

Nathaniel coughed. "Uh, what about me?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You were with Amaryllis."

A grin started to slide onto Nathaniel's face. "Okay, fair enough. Continue."

"She killed Severus," Harry said with a sniff. "Then you and Amaryllis came home and—and you said he was dead, then I woke up."

Nathaniel's eyebrows were raised when Harry looked back up at him. "Wow, no wonder you didn't want to talk about it with Snape, Harry. Pretty graphic, if you ask me."

Harry stayed quiet, watching the river pass over a few rocks, and then continue to smoothly flow on.

"Do you want me to leave?" Nathaniel asked softly. "To give you some alone time? I really don't want to, but—"

Harry let a few tears slide down his cheeks as he shook his head. "Stay."

Nathaniel smiled a bit. "All right. Don't cry, okay? It was just a dream."

"It was so real," Harry said, sniffing some tears back. "And when I woke up, I really thought that I was in an orphanage. I was scared."

"I would be too," Nathaniel said. "So just relax. Maybe even take a nap, right under this tree."

"I can't fall asleep," Harry said with a shake of his head.

"Just listen to the river," Nathaniel suggested. "I'll wake you up when I think it's time to go back to the manor, 'kay?"

Harry leaned back into the tree, his eyes keeping out all other sounds except for the river as he closed his eyes.

-

"Oh, god! Harry, Harry!"

Nathaniel roughly pushed Harry's shoulder, causing the sleeping boy to topple onto his side. Harry opened his eyes and frowned and Nathaniel, who looked frantic.

"What is it? That's some way to wake somebody up." Then Harry stopped as he noticed the look in Nathaniel's eye. "What is it?"

"I don't have a watch, and I can't tell time," Nathaniel started, "but I fell asleep, too! I don't even know what time it is—"

Harry didn't bother to listen. He scrambled up from the grassy ground and tore out of the park, Nathaniel quickly following behind.

-

Harry didn't bother to stop running as he tore through the Snape manor. "Severus?" he called out loudly. There wasn't a reply. Harry went to the kitchen, where he found Snape sitting in one of the chairs, an angry look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Harry started, looking down at the floor. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Snape, however, seemed in a more angry mood than an apologetic one.

"Where were you?" he growled, staring daggers at Harry. "You've been gone for more than two bloody hours!"

Harry gulped. Had he? "I'm sorry," he apologized in a quiet voice. His chin quivered. "I—"

"It's my fault," Nathaniel spoke up from behind Harry in a firm voice. "It really is. Harry was a mess when we reached this park—you see, he just told me what his dream was about. You better be thankful that he didn't tell you either, it was something. Very gruesome.—Anyway, I told him to get some rest so he'd feel better when he woke up. I told him that I'd wake him up soon enough, but then I fell asleep and didn't get to wake him up."

There was complete silence between the three, and Harry still kept his eyes on the floor. Finally, sensing that Snape and Harry needed to talk, he coughed and gave Harry a squeeze on the shoulder.

"I'll be, uh, out," he said to Harry with a grin once Harry looked up at him. When Harry gave him a quizzical look, Nathaniel winked at Harry. "Amaryllis."

Harry nodded slowly, and he couldn't fight his own smile once he watched Nathaniel leave the kitchens. His smile soon faded once he looked back at Snape.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, taking a few steps forward. "I know that you're mad at me. And I'm sorry. That and for yelling at you… I shouldn't of done that."

Snape stood up, and let Harry come forward while wrapping his arms around Snape's neck. "I'm really, really sorry," Harry said softly. "I just didn't want to talk about it. I shouldn't have been mad at you."

Snape sighed as Harry let go. "Just as long as you're all right, that's really all that matters."

"D'you mind if I go upstairs for a while?" Harry asked. "I don't feel so good."

"Of course," Snape replied. "If you need anything, I'll be down here. Just never run out like that again. I mean it."

Harry nodded and left the kitchen. As he went up the stairs, he started to feel nauseous. He kept imagining the blood that he had been soaked in in his dream. As he went through the hallway to get to his room, he found himself thinking about why he had the dream.

It's because of Aureus and Quirrel, Harry thought as he sat on his bed, clinging onto his pillow. I still can't get Aureus out of my mind. And Quirrel… well, he threatened to kill Severus, didn't he?

Harry shuddered.

Time to think about something more pleasant than those two, Harry thought as he sat on his bed. He let out a breath and lay back, his head resting comfortably on his pillow, but his peaceful state was soon ruined by Nathaniel coming into the room, a look on his face that caused Harry to sit up and look at him in confusion.

"What is it?" Harry asked, frowning. "You look…"

"Harry," Nathaniel started, sucking in a breath and looking Harry in the eye. "I don't think I'm going to go back to Hogwarts with you this year."

-