CHAPTER 27

A/N: Another chapter (though a rather short one) before my exam on April 19. The next chapter will be posted after the exam. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me :-)

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"What is the matter, Harry?" Hermione asked as they walked back from the Quidditch pitch where the Gryffindor team had just been practising. Ron was talking to Ginny and Dean. Harry absent-mindedly shook off some mud from his Firebolt.

"I've been having strange dreams," he said.

"They're not visions from Voldemort, are they? You said that you're blocking them out now," Hermione said.

"Yes, I can block them out now. I'm dreaming about…Snape."

"What has he done now? Or did you do something?" Hermione asked sharply.

Harry laughed.

"No, no, don't worry, there's been no repetition of the Pensieve incident, and he has stopped bringing up the topic of my father all the time. It's just that I get these really odd dreams about him. They're so vivid." He summarised his dreams for Hermione, who chewed at her lip.

"Professor Snape and you share at least two very important bonds, Harry," she said at last. "You are Legilimens and Occlumens. That is an extremely intimate kind of magic. And you've both been branded by Voldemort himself; you've got the scar, and Snape has the Dark Mark. You trust him now, don't you?"

Harry nodded.

"I was very reluctant to trust him. Or to admit that I trust him."

"You're probably still reluctant. Anyway, you started improving when you learnt to trust him. I am sure that the bond of mental magic is affecting your dreams."

"Are they actually dreams, Hermione?"

"You think they're visions?"

"Well…I don't really know. Maybe."

"Trelawney would be delighted to hear you," Hermione commented dryly. "Why don't you block them if they're bothering you?"

"You can't block all dreams. There's a different between dreams and these visions or 'sendings' or whatever they are. I think that these are sendings. And whenever I see Snape, the expression in his eyes makes me want to go to him. He always seems to be here, at Hogwarts. The next time I have a dream about Snape, I'm going to see if it's true."

Hermione frowned.

"What do you mean? You're not going to sneak out of bed in the middle of night, are you?" she asked.

"Actually…"

"No, you're not going to sneak out, Harry."

"You interrupted me too quickly. I don't need to sneak out of bed. I've got the Marauder's Map. If I recognise the location in my dream and then consult the Map…"

"That might work, Harry. But still…I'm sure those dreams are just a side-effect of mental magic."

"Hermione, if you are right about this bond...Do you think it's two-way?"

"That Professor Snape is having similar dreams?"

"Yeah, of me. Well, I'm quite sure he's had dreams in which he's roasting me alive…"

"I don't know, Harry. May you could try asking him."

"No, that would sound too weird."

"You trust him, don't you?"

"Yeah, but…it's still rather new…and he'd probably laugh about dreams and stuff. I can't really go up to him and say, 'Professor, I've been having these weird dreams about you. Do you have weird dreams of me, too?' Just imagine."

"Well, if you don't want to tell him, then don't," Hermione said logically.

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Harry snapped awake in his bed.

It had happened again. Severus had been in the atrium, as he called it, pacing up and down restlessly, a pale hand tugging at a strand of hair. Harry could feel the terrible pain emanating from him and he had stretched out his hand towards Severus, who had looked up with a start.

"What-?" the Potions Master had exclaimed, moving towards Harry with the speed of a skilled duellist. Startled, Harry had found himself back in his dormitory, with no sign of the atrium or the Potions Master. Harry scrambled to the edge of the bed and grabbed his glasses and the Marauder's Map. He opened and activated it, his wand casting a warm glow over it as he searched for the atrium on the ground floor. His heart leapt. Severus Snape was in the atrium, and, to judge from the movement of the dot labelled with his name, pacing up and down.

"Oh my God," Harry whispered, tugging out his diary and setting down the date and time.

He was sure that this was no coincidence at all. As he watched, the dot abruptly left the atrium, moved down the corridor and suddenly disappeared. Harry realised that Severus had probably taken a shortcut through a tapestry or wall. Since all the students were in their dormitories, to judge by the number of dots confined to the House Towers, it was easy for Harry to find Severus's dot again. To his surprise, Severus was not heading towards the dungeons but climbing upwards. Puzzled, Harry watched the dot's progress. It vanished again and appeared on the seventh floor. Maybe Severus was searching for the Headmaster to inform him about what he had seen? Sure enough, the dot stopped where the Gargoyle guarded Dumbledore's quarters. A minute later, the dot with Dumbledore's name had shifted from an inner room to the circular office. Severus's dot now had company. Harry wiped the Marauder's Map clean and stuffed it into his drawer. He removed his glasses and lay in bed, thinking hard.

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"Severus, you are looking very pale," Dumbledore remarked, looking striking in a magenta housecoat. "Do you want some tea? Coffee?"

"It's Potter."

"Is he wandering around in the castle?"

"I am not quite sure what is going on, Albus."

He told Dumbledore about his so-called dreams.

"It happened just now. He was standing directly in front of me and holding his hand out. Occlumency seems ineffective in such situations."

Dumbledore leant back with a strange smile on his lips.

"Ah. Well, Severus, it is nothing to worry about. It is a side-effect of the intense practising of mental magic."

"I cannot recall such a thing happening when you taught me, Albus."

"It does not happen in all cases."

"There is something you are not telling me," Severus said shrewdly.

Dumbledore said softly:

"Harry and you are also bound together magically to the same source through your mark and his scar. You both share a direct link leading to Voldemort. Seeing that Harry is able to receive Legilimentic images through his scar, it is not surprising that the connection between your scars is influencing the bond of mental magic between Harry and you."

Severus immediately started to rub his left forearm in an unconscious gesture.

"Once Harry has fully mastered Occlumency, then the sendings, as I call them, will probably go away. You may want to tell Harry about this phenomenon, Severus. He is probably having similar experiences and is not sure about the reason," Dumbledore said.

"So there is no way to control them."

"None that I know of."

Severus nodded and rose.

"I apologise for disturbing you."

"You did not disturb me. I am very glad you told me. Good night, my dear boy."

When Severus had left, Phineas Black, who had been pretending to sleep during the conversation, spoke slyly:

"It goes deeper than scars and mental magic, doesn't it? You have still not told him all."

Dumbledore simply smiled an enigmatic smile and withdrew to his bedroom.

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