A/N: Hello my pretties! Welcome back for another installment! Nothing much to say, and I'm rather too lazy to write a chapter ad, so I don't own and hear you go!

Chapter Ten: I See Dead People

Harry

"Five points from Gryffindor, Potter."
I look up. It was the first potions class, barely five minutes in, and apparently I'd already done something to offend Snape. How, I didn't know. Breathing probably.

I briefly find that ironic, and get a mental image of Snape dancing on my grave in a party hat, throwing confetti in the air. I meet Snape's glare with a empty look, when I get the feeling that something is hitting me in the gut. A flash of heat flies through my veins and the world flickers for a moment. When the feeling passes I notice everyone staring at me like I had two heads.

"What?"

"Headmaster's office Potter. Now."

Snape looks almost...shocked. Which is something I never thought I'd see.

"NOW!"

I grab my bag and follow Snape, noticing briefly that the class is whispering excitedly.
What exactly did I do?

Snape

Potter was a medium. A genuine, honest-to-goodness medium. There hadn't been one for centuries, and they had been able to contact the dead at will after some training, which I was positive the Headmaster would insist Potter revive. Though the question remained, who would train him?

I glance at the confused boy, who still doesn't know exactly what he's done. I, however, am still shaken. And believe me, it takes a lot to shake Severus Snape.

Potter had walked into the classroom with his friends. Although they had laughed and talked, Potter had seemed distant. Which makes sense, after a summer of torture. Still, I had never given Potter's spawn special treatment before and I certainly wasn't intending on it now.

"Potter! Five points from Gryffindor." I was about to add 'for dressing like the slob all of you Gryffindors seem to be' (his tie was crooked and his hair was still the perpetual bird's-nest) when he had looked up at me with a blank expression. I had paused for an instant at the haunted look in the boy's eyes, a look no child should ever have.

And that's when it happened.

Potter had gasped suddenly as if punched in the stomach, before lookin directly at me. I had frowned, slightly concerned, though I never would have admitted it. The brat's eyes had been completely unfocused, staring off into the distance.

And then he had spoken, though not in his own voice. With her's. Lily's. I would like to imagine that I remained completely composed throughout what followed, though I imagine the color probably drained from my face. Because Lily's voice had been angry.

"SEVERUS! I AM DISGUSTED WITH YOU! TREATING MY SON LIKE DIRT JUST BECAUSE HIS FATHER TEASED YOU SOMETIMES! HONESTLY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THAT!"

He then turned his gaze on the shocked class. "AND YOU! TURNING ON HIM BECAUSE OF SOME STUPID PAPER! BELIEVING ALL THE LIES THE MINISTRY TOLD YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S BEEN THROUGH? VOLDEMORT IS BACK, I SAW HIM RETURN! I SEE EVERYTHING! AND BELIEVE ME, I SAW THE WHOLE CHAMBER OF SECRETS FIASCO! AND I'M WATCHING YOU NOW AND BELIEVE ME, I AM ONE. PISSED. GHOST."

Harry/Lily had then taken a deep breath. "Now," he/she said, turning his/her...it's...gaze on the shocked class.
"If we have a repeat of the Chamber of Secrets thing, I will be back with a series of painful hexes. Clear?"

There was a general murmur of assent and it hadn't seemed satisfied.

"I SAID 'CLEAR!' ANSWER ME PROPERLY!"

"Yes Mrs. Potter," the class had murmured, the dunderheads seemed to have realized who they were talking to. Good, maybe the future wasn't entirely hopeless.

"Good," it had said. "Oh and Ron, Hermione, please be there for my son. He needs you, especially now. When he comes back to himself tell him I love him, and I'm proud of him."

"We will," said Granger. Weasly just nodded, still dumbstruck.

"You'd better. Oh, and Severus. Wash your hair, and stop calling me an 'it.' I know you are, really, you're just too predictable."

Harry/Lily shook his/her head and my last thought before Harry snapped out of his trance was that Lily really did know me too well.

Now I was leading Potter to the Headmaster's office, my thoughts in a million places at once. What had brought on this new ability of Potter's? No one really knew what caused mediums to be able to speak to the dead. Some suspected it was brought on by a traumatic event, but mediums were so few and far between that no one knew for sure.

If it's true, I muse, he certainly has gone through plenty of trauma. More than enough to trigger the medium powers.

The Order thinks that the boy has been hit with the Cruciatus Curse a few times, that he's strong, that he'll get over it soon. Black insists that it was something more. For once in my life, I agree with the mangy mutt. It's impossible to make someone look so broken under the Cruciatus. Why? Because they'd lose their mind in the process. And Potter, skittish and broken as he was, was still perfectly sane.

"Sugar Quill," I say in a clipped voice. Why Dumbledore insists on all guests humilating themselves with these ridiculous passwords, I'll never know. The gargoyle leaps aside and I start up the stairs, Potter following close behind. I rap my fist against the door impatiently.

"Come in."

I pull the door open and stalk into the room, Potter following me, eyes darting around the office. He looks ready to bolt at the first sign of danger, memorizing escape routes. His eyes linger on the windows, before snapping over to Dumbledore. Why? It's not like he could jump out of them without getting himself killed.

Maybe he thinking being killed is better than going back to wherever he was over the summer.

"Ah, Severus. What has Harry done to irritate you this time?" asks Dumbledore. His twinkling eyes then land on Harry. "Lemon drop?"

"No thank you sir," Harry says.

"Potter is a medium," I say simply. Dumbledore's eyes snap over to me, wide with shock.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I witnessed it myself."

"Witnessed what?"

I glance over at Harry who is standing in front of us, looking confused and defiant, arms crossed over his chest.

"Sit down Potter. This will take awhile."

He sits, moving with a grace that I'm positive he's never had before. It's almost catlike, the way he moves. He eyes us warily.

"What happened?"

"Potter, you are a medium. Do you know what that is?" I ask, not expecting him to.

"No."

"A medium, dear boy," Dumbledore begins, lacing his fingers together, "is someone who can contact and channel souls that have passed on."

"So...you're saying that I..."

"For a few minutes you were in a trance, Potter. A spirit spoke through you."

"A spirit...spoke...through me?"

"Yes." I lean back, waiting to see how Potter will take the news.

"Which spirit? Someone you know?"

I swallow. I hadn't expected this question to come up, thinking Potter would immidiately start asking how all of his 'cool' powers worked and demanding attention for being special.

"It was your mother Potter."

Dumbledore looks just as surprised as Harry.

"My...mother? How did you know?"

"For one, she addressed you as her son. For another, you had her voice."

He blushes violently. "Her voice?"

"Yes."

"Great. More ammunition for people to humiliate me with."

"I can assure you Potter, they're more likely to badger you with requests for you to channel their dead relatives. Which you will be able to do on command, as well as just speak with spirits, given sufficient training."

"Which I'm sure that Professor Snape will be more than happy to give you."

"What?" we ask at the same time.

"Professor Dumbledore, I don't know the first thing about training a medium!" I exclaim.

"And Sn-Professor Snape and I don't exactly get along," Potter says, eyeing me warily.

"Medium powers are a mind art Severus, much like Occulmency," Dumbledore says, studying me. "You are one of the finest Occulmens this school has produced."

I vaguely notice Potter tense up, before relaxing, as if mentally chastisting himself. Something Dumbledore said. A trigger word maybe?

You. One. Finest. Occulmens. School. Produced.

None of the words seem particaulary violent or threatening. Then again, who knows what was done to Potter? I am still convinced it was more than a kidnapping by Death Eaters, and as the pieces add up, I am growing more and more convinced that it was something far more sinister.

"Fine," I say with an exasperated sigh. "I'll try. Potter, right now, let's see if you can show Professor Dumbledore what you can do. Reach out your mind. Concentrate on the other side, on the Otherside, Heaven, whatever you'd like to call the afterlife."

Potter closes his eyes, and seems to be concentrating hard. His eyes suddenly flash open, glassy and unfocused.

"Albus?" he asks, speaking in a young girl's voice. Dumbledore blanches, looking at Harry in complete and utter shock.

"Ariana?" he gasps.

"Wow, you're old," Spirit (as I have decided on calling Harry when he goes into medium-mode) says with a laugh. "I've been watching you grow up, but this is the first time I've seen you up close. Thank Harry for me, will you? I've been wanting to talk to you for so long. I have to tell you something. Something important."

"What is it, Ariana?" Albus asks.

"It wasn't you, Albus. You don't need to feel guilty. You shouldn't. It was Gellert."

"It...wasn't me?"

"No. It wasn't." Spirit's gently strokes Dumbledore's cheek, which looks downright odd, before speaking again.

"I have to go. I don't want to hurt Harry. When he learns to call specific spirits at will, ask Abe to come, will you? I want to talk to him. And you too. There's so much I want to tell you both."

"Yes, I will do that."

"Bye Albus. And please, don't treat Harry like a weapon. Lily told me to tell you that. Well, she told me to yell at you actually, but I don't really want to have hard feelings between us. So, until later, adios!"

Harry's eyes re-focus, and he comes out of his trance.

"I think I did it."

"You did, my boy. And I can't thank you enough."

"Why?"

"You managed to summon my sister. She told me something very...important that has been weighing on my mind for years."

"What is it? Or is it too personal?"

"Alas, I must keep this a secret from you, dear boy."

"That's okay. There are some secrets best left alone."

"Philisophical musings aside, Potter," I say, though briefly wondering what exactly he meant by that, "we have to figure out what time lessons will be held. I believe Tuesday, Thrursday, and Saturday evenings would work best."

"That's fine, sir," Potter says. "May I go now? I don't want to be late to Transfiguration."

"Go ahead, Potter."

He walks out, and I turn to Dumbledore with a sigh.

"Potter has been acting...off."

"What do you expect Severus," Dumbledore asks wearily. "He's been through horrors I don't even want to think about. I can't help but feel like I've failed him. He was supposed to be...well, not safe I suppose, but happy in our world. Supposed to see the fun and excitement, and danger too, but come out unscathed, and stronger because of it. Not be tortured by those monsters."

"Professor," I begin.

"Call me Albus, I've told you that before."

"Albus," I correct myself, grinding my teeth, "I really don't think it's that simple. He's gone through more horror than a few Cruciatus curses."

"Who could have done this to him, if not Death Eaters."

"I don't know. According to him, he's not even sure if they were Death Eaters. And he never said what exactly they did to him. I don't know if he's lying per se...just letting us believe something that isn't the truth. Very Slytherin."

"He was almost in Slytherin, do you know?"

"Really?" I ask, shocked. Potter's spawn was almost in my house? Potter Senior would be rolling in his grave.

"Really. And maybe they weren't Death Eaters. Who else could have done this to him?" He doesn't ask this in exasperation, like there's no other option, rather in incredularity and anger. He wants to know who did this to his Golden Boy so he and the rest of The Order can tear them apart. I myself would join in.

Nobody hurts Lily's son.

Nobody.

A/N: Cookies to whoever can tell me what the chapter title's from! Fairly obvious, but...eh...what are you gonna do?