Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Chapter 7: Unwanted Dreams

Harry could hear Snape and Dumbledore arguing about him staying with Snape. Harry had never heard Snape actually argue with Dumbledore and wondered why he was doing it now. Snape usually did whatever Dumbledore wanted. Even if it was reluctant at times. Their voices started to fade out and he could see the Triwizard Cup in front of him. Cedric was standing in front of him next to the stunned spider.

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it." He told Cedric….

They were standing in a dark and overgrown graveyard.

They watched as a figure drew nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. It looked to be carrying a baby…or a bundle of robes.

Without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. His knees buckled; he was on the ground and could see nothing at all; his head was about to split open…

"Kill the spare." Said a high, cold voice.

A second voice screeched, "Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green light blazed through his eyelids.

"Nnnoooo!" screamed Harry as he heard Cedric fall….

Harry was tied to a gravestone. He could see what he thought was a baby laying in a bundle of clothes not far from him.

Wormtail was cutting his arm and taking his blood…

He could see the red eyes and snake-like face of Voldemort staring at him…

They were locked together by their wands.

He could see Cedric coming out of the end of Voldemort's wand. Then an old man (Frank Bryce) and a lady (Bertha Jorkins) followed him. His father came and then his mother. Cedric came closer.

"Take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents…" The ghost like Cedric whispered…

He held on to Cedric's lifeless body. They were surrounded by a group of people. They were all looking at him, accusing him. He looked into the face of Dumbledore, trying to explain.

"No! I didn't do it! I tried to stop him!" he said frantically.

"Potter!" he heard a familiar, hated voice snap.

Harry instantly came fully awake and went absolutely still.

"I thought I told you to clear your mind. Can't you even do that right?" Snape said sarcastically.

Harry slowly sat up and reached for his glasses on the table. He looked over at Snape, standing in the open doorway glaring angrily at him. He was still dressed in his black robes and looked as if he hadn't been to sleep yet.

"I did, sir." Harry said, glaring back at Snape.

"Do not lie to me, Potter." Snape said coldly.

Harry looked down at the covers on the bed and didn't say anything. He really wasn't awake enough to put up with Snape right now. Especially after the dream he just had.

"Since you have seen fit to worry and upset the house elves, you can get up and come do something of use. I want you down in the study in ten minutes." Snape said, then turned and walked away, not waiting for an answer.

Great thought Harry. First thing in the morning and I am stuck with the greasy git.

Harry got up and started getting ready. He glanced at his watch to see what time it was. It was only three in the morning. Reluctantly, he headed down to study to see what Snape would have him doing. Snape was leaning against the desk, waiting for him. Without a word to him, Snape stood up and went over to what Harry thought was the wall. As Snape got close to it, a door appeared and opened for him. He stopped and waited for Harry to go through it first.

Harry stopped just inside the door, not sure of where to go. It was dark and he couldn't see. Snape walked past him and started down the stone steps. As he went, the candles along the walls lit up so that they could see. Harry glanced behind them as they went down and saw the candles go out as they passed them. It seemed to go down for a long time before it leveled out. They walked down the hall and passed three doors before Snape turned into one on the left. This door opened on it's own for him, too. Snape waited for Harry to proceed him into the room. Harry tried to go passed hi as quickly as possible without looking too nervous. He glanced at Snape as he passed and noticed the smirk on his face. He obviously wasn't hiding it to well.

As Harry walked in, he looked around him. It looked a little like Snape's office and classroom combined from school. There were two cauldrons with some kind of potion's in them off to one side, shelves all along the walls with jars of slimy dead things floating in different kinds of solution's. There was what looked like a large closet in one of the corners and a bookshelf along another. Probably full of old potion books. A desk stood towards the far side of the room, and a long table over to one side.

Harry jumped a little as he heard the door closed behind them. He watched as Snape walked passed him and went over to the cauldrons. He stirred one a few times clock-wise, then went over and added something to the other one.

"Sit at the table, Potter." Snape said softly, without turning from what he was doing.

Harry went over and sat down. He noticed a few different kinds of herbs on the table. Next to them were some large slimy, slug looking things in a jar. Shuddering a little at the thought of having to touch them, Harry watched as Snape came over to the table.

"I want these herbs ground into a fine powder and placed in this jar. After those are done you can slice those up into equal quarter inch pieces and place them in that jar. And no mistakes." Severus said coldly, turning and going over to the desk. He started going through the papers on his desk without another word to Harry.

Harry started working on the herbs, feeling a little reluctant to touch the slimy things. He didn't know how long they worked down there. Everytime he finished one thing, Snape gave him more to do. He would never admit it to Snape, but it was kinda relaxing. It was quiet and he had to concentrate on what he was doing which kept him from thinking about his dream. And it wasn't as bad as in classes. In classes, Snape always made him nervous, standing over him as he worked, or made snide comments every chance he got. Here, Snape left him to do it on his own. The only time he came over was to get the things that he had finished and put them away, or to give him more to do. He was just finishing grinding something, he wasn't sure what and didn't really want to know, when Snape finally decided they were done.

"Potter, finish what you got and clean up. Breakfast will be ready soon," he said softly, sounding preoccupied.

Harry looked up to find Snape standing over the cauldrons taking notes. Harry finished what he was doing, then cleaned up his work area. He knew from classes that Snape wouldn't tolerate sloppiness. When he finished, he stood up and stretched. Severus put away his notes and came over to Harry.

"You are to write about your dream. Explain what was in it and why you had it. Then explain how you are going to correct your mistake. I want it when you come to lunch this afternoon. Is that understood, Potter?" Severus said.

"Yes, sir. But why do I have to write about it? It was just an ordinary dream. Nothing unusual about it." Harry said, trying not to show his nervousness. He didn't want anyone to know that he was still having dreams about the graveyard. Especially not Snape.

"If it was an ordinary dream, I wouldn't have had to be summoned to your room. Apparently, you were making enough noise to alarm and upset Tina. She felt it necessary to send a signal for me to come up," Severus said savagely. Leaning in closer to Harry, he added in a hiss, "You must learn to clear your mind. It is essential if you are ever going to learn to block your mind from anyone. We can not afford another incident like last year. Is that understood, Potter?"

Harry glared at him, not backing down. He was too upset about being reminded of what happened to his godfather. He blamed himself mostly for it, because he didn't try to block the dreams from his mind. He had wanted to see what was behind that door.

"Potter." Severus said in a threatening tone.

"Yes, sir." Harry spat out.

Severus glared at him through narrowed eyes, obviously not liking the tone. Without a word he turned and headed out the door. Harry, having little choice, followed him. He fumed the whole why back up to the dining room. It had been an okay morning until Snape had to ruin it for him.

They ate breakfast in silence. Harry just picked at his, too upset to really eat anything. When they were done, Harry went to his room. He tried to relax and calm down before starting on the paper about his dream. When he was finally calm enough to think rationally, he sat down at the desk and started on the paper for Snape. It was harder to write then he thought it would have been. Mostly because he didn't want to tell Snape about it. At least he wasn't making him talk to him about it. He knew he would never be able to tell him then.

When he was done, he decided to write a letter to Lupin. He told him who he was staying with and some of the stuff he had made him do so far. He didn't put any names in it incase it was intercepted. He just used a few little nicknames he knew that Lupin would understand. When he was done, he tied it to Hedwig's leg and told her who to take it to. She nipped his finger to show that she understood and flew out the window. He had a little while yet before lunch, so he decided to work on his homework some more.

Tina came and told him that Snape wanted him in the study. He looked at his watch and saw he still had fifteen minutes before lunch. He really wasn't looking forward to this. He grabbed the paper about the dream and slowly made his way down to the study.

Snape was sitting at his desk waiting for him to enter. Harry walked over and gave him the paper, then sat down in the chair. He waited for Snape to get done reading it, feeling angry that Snape would know that he felt guilty about Cedric's death.

"What do you think you could have done to help Mr. Diggory?" Severus said quietly, without that sarcastic edge.

"I don't know, sir. It was my fault he was there. I told him to take the cup with me." Harry said with his eyes down. He didn't want to see the look on Snape's face.

"Did you know what would happen when you told him that? Did you know that you would end up in that graveyard?" Severus said softly.

Harry wasn't sure what to make of him now. He couldn't tell what his mood was. He was being sort of nice to him. Nice for Snape anyway's.

"No, sir. It just didn't seem right that he shouldn't get it, too. He stayed and helped me. He didn't have too, but he stayed. Then he wanted me to take it. We couldn't stand there and argue about it, so we both decided to take it." Harry said, still not looking up.

"There was nothing you could have done. Neither one of you could of known what was going to happen. It was the Dark Lords choice what happened to Diggory. There was nothing you could of said or done to change his mind. If it wasn't Diggory, then it would have been someone else. You risked your life to bring Diggory's body back to his parents. No one could have asked anymore from you. You are to stop blaming yourself and start putting the blame where it belongs. With the Dark Lord. It should give you more reason to want to stop him. You should be trying harder to learn how to accomplish destroying him. You can start with your Occlumency lessons. Understood, Potter?" Severus said sternly.

"I guess so, sir. I know I couldn't have stopped him, but I still feel guilty about surviving when Cedric couldn't." Harry said sadly, his anger disappearing and leaving him feeling cold and empty.

"Good. You are to make sure you clear your mind at night. I want no more mistakes. If you can't do it on your own, I'll have to make sure you do. Is that understood, Potter?" Severus said sternly.

"Yes, sir." Harry said softly, not looking at him.

"You may go to lunch now. I want you to eat the food this time and not play with it. You will need all your strength for lesson's later." Severus said sharply.

"Yes, sir." Harry said, glancing at Snape's face. He couldn't make out what he was thinking. His face gave nothing away as usual. Harry got up and went to the dining room.

Severus sat at his desk thinking about what had been said. Potter had finally told him something without trying to hide it. He was probably afraid of having him find out he was lying during Occlumency lesson's. It didn't fit with the image he had of the boy. He always thought he was like his father, but his father would have been happy with the attention. Maybe Albus was right on this one. Maybe he did just need to talk about it. But why would he choose to talk to him? Of all the people he had to talk to, he chose the one least likely to be sympathetic to him. Maybe that was the reason, he just wanted to be treated normally and not be coddled all the time. He also needed to learn how to control his emotions. It would be easier for him to learn if he could stop getting mad at every little snide thing that someone says to him. It is a lot to ask a teenager to do, but he would have to learn if he is ever going to defeat the Dark Lord. Albus seemed to feel that he was the only one capable of teaching Potter to control his emotions. Severus himself had learned the hard way. His father had made sure of that. Now he had to figure out how to show someone else to do it. Albus was asking the impossible of him this time. Severus got up and went to join Potter at the dining room table. It was best if he didn't think on it anymore or he'd start getting into some of the memory's he didn't want to remember.

Xoxoxo

Sorry this took so long. Real life came back with a vengeance. I will be back to updating more often now.

Thanx for all the reviews.

In the books, J.K. Rowlings says that Harry has to be able to return to and call the Dursley's house home at least once a year. She doesn't say how long he has to stay there. In my story, Albus is relaying on the wards that Severus and his mother placed on the house. The wards are able to keep the dark magic out unless Severus allows them to enter. When Severus went to Voldemort, him and his mother had to alter the wards so that they would recognize his magic. If anyone else with the Dark Mark tries to enter, the wards are activated and they get a very nasty surprise. This gives Severus time to make sure Harry is out of the way so that they don't know he is there. I hope that helps explain why Harry is able to stay with Severus.

Harry will start asking more questions in the next chapter. He was a little confused at Severus showing him some kindness. I think that, even though Albus and Cedric's parents didn't blame Harry for what happened, Harry still felt guilty and blamed himself a little. Hearing someone that he knows isn't trying to be nice and reassure him, tell him it wasn't his fault helped him come to terms with it. I also think he will take Severus's advice and work harder to learn how to destroy.

Severus will start seeing that Harry isn't as much like James as he thinks he is.

Thanx again for the reviews. I'll try not to have so long in between updates.

Rhi