They arrived at night. Even though the clock indicated that it was barely past three. He remembered how Krum had said that most of the year winter it was night, and the rest of the year the sun would poke its head over the horizon for barely a couple of hours before it would hide again.

"I-It's fr-freezing…" Harry shuddered in his robes as the rest of the seventh years walked excited but still cold.

"If you don't know how to cast a warmth charm I will simply return you all back to Hogwarts. I'm not having such mediocrity representing the school." He said sternly.

The ten seventh years that were happy to come looked at each other and cast the spell. Snape turned to Durmstrang castle, looking at Harry who kept shivering, his teeth clattering.

"Potter! Charm, now!" He hissed. Harry simply held himself tighter to stop himself shuddering. Snape rolled his eyes. "Very well, have it your way." He said turning to keep going.

The castle wasn't as big as Hogwarts, but it was still grand. You could see the light from what Harry could only assume was their main hall. Harry saw the Beauxbatons girls already ahead. Harry walked behind Severus, though not participating in the choreographed display his colleagues performed as they walked ahead.

Even then he heard the whispers on him and Snape and wished he could go back to his tower. It was freezing here and he refused to try to warm himself up, in the state his magic is in he'd probably end up either spontaneously combusting or freezing himself.

Of course a life without problems wasn't one given to him, so the moment everyone ate and were taken to their dormitories, another problem surfaced.

"We were a bit surprised by the addition of one more student, but we were glad to hear you were soulmates so the changes weren't much needed." The headmistress said. She had an intimidating aura and stood proud. She had an air about her and there was no question as to why she had been chosen as Karkaroff's replacement. He was so immersed in his analysis of the woman, that he hadn't registered, until she left, that she was assuming that Snape and he shared a bed regularly, because there it was, a grand double bed in the one bedroom of the quarters.

"Gah…" Harry squeaked turning beet red, unable to look at the headmaster who scoffed at the arrangement, coming swiftly to split the bed into two, putting each at one end of the room, and charming a curtain across the middle to mark as a barrier. Harry felt relieved though he could still feel his heart beating a little louder than usual.

"Honestly." Snape scoffed picking the one closest to the door and Harry went to the other one. It was so cold in here. Harry shivered as he put his trunk beside the bed, glad that he had brought layers. He could hear Snape readying himself for bed on the other side of the curtain and blushed realising he was disappointed about their split beds. "I would appreciate it, Potter, if you could control your wave of disappointment so as to not pass it to me." Snape scoffed.

"Oh god…" Harry said covering his face with his hands. "As if it weren't bad enough that you can read my mind, now you know what I'm feeling too." He muttered under his breath, whether Snape heard it or not, he'd never know.

"Go to sleep, Potter." The other said simply. Harry sighed getting out of his robes, putting his pjamas on and a jumper over himself before crawling into the cold bed. He wondered how the Durmstrang students handled it. He wouldn't be surprised if the number of crying first years in this school was triple the number in Hogwarts.

-o-O-o-

Something woke Severus up in the middle of the night. Keeping his ears peeled he made sure it wasn't an intruder he was hearing. He heard the shuddered breath and opened his eyes remembering Potter. He got out of the bed and walked to the other side of the room. Under the covers the other was curled into himself shuddering in his sleep, and pale.

"Merlin give me patience." He whispered to himself, pinching the bridge between his nose before performing a warming charm over him and transfiguring the thin bed cover into a douvet. Harry's shuddering lessened quickly, but what Snape hadn't counted on was Harry waking up, looking up at him tired but grateful.

"Thank you Professor." He mumbled curling against his pillow before going to sleep once more. His hair was getting long again. Snape looked at him, reaching down hesitantly to move the strand out of his face, looking at his peaceful expression. He couldn't let these feelings advance. He stood and returned to his bed, wondering if there would ever be a day when he would be able to sleep through the night without worrying about the blasted Gryffindor.

-o-O-o-

Harry could barely contain his happiness for the following weeks. He was not chosen. He was not the chosen one this time. He would not have to risk his life again. Even lessons with Snape couldn't dampen his spirits and he kept smiling through it all.

Ginny had been the champion chosen for Hogwarts, so Harry was as free from danger as he could be. The lessons with Snape weren't as bad since they weren't one two one. The headmaster had taken the role of teaching all ten seventh years and him.

Another pleasant surprise arrived at breakfast on the first of November, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. Harry turned and looked surprised to see Viktor Krum there.

"Krum! Hi, what are you doing here?" Harry asked chuckling, giving the other space to sit beside him.

"I could ask you ze same zing, Harry." Krum said. "I came to help out and supervise." He said vaguely. "I'm pleasantly surprised to see you here. I zought you vouldn't vant to compete."

"Oh I'm not. Ginny was chosen this year." He said relieved.

"Ah yes, ze one vith ze jealous boyfriend." He chuckled and Harry blushed remembering what he'd told the other in Fleur's wedding, while polyjuiced as someone else. "Vat about you? I heard in England you all found your soulmates." He said.

Harry looked up to Snape surprised to see him staring straight back at him, pretending to be calm but in truth he could feel his… anger? Was he jealous? No… it couldn't be.

"Oh uh… yeah… but I'm still not certain about mine."

"I'm surprised, since he brought you vith him." Krum said looking at Snape too. "Looks like you have your own jealous partner now." He chuckled.

Harry laughed, smiling brightly, he found it funny alright, but he wanted to make sure Snape saw how funny he thought Krum to be.

"No, Snape and I aren't really happy with being each other's soulmates." Harry said. "Well I wouldn't say unhappy, but it's just, we're too different." He said.

"Well… Everyone believes England to be mad. It is frightfully dangerous to be aware of your soulmate. Sometimes, ven not equal in strength or power, ze veakest will be in peril." Krum said.

"In what way?" Harry asked, feeling his stomach starting to form knots.

"In many vays. One can lose its powers, one can become too dependent, another could become too affected by ze other's rejections, another can lose control of his powers, or ze vorst could be that ze veakest takes in all of ze more powerful partner's negative emotions, eventually zat takes its toll on everyone. It's not uncommon for one part of ze partnership to take zeir own lives."

Harry looked at him shocked. He at least got one of those, and he doubted losing control with the elder wand in his power was such a good idea. "Well… I don't think it'll happen to me, Snape and I have no interest in being with each other." He said simply.

"Zats good." Krum smiled warmly at him. Harry turned to him surprised but the other gave no explanation for his words and simply got up and went to talk to the new headmistress. Harry faintly glanced at Snape who was still staring at him. Harry just knew the other was desperate to read his mind. Harry simply looked down at his food. Deciding not to allow the other to keep penetrating his head. Oh but he could feel anger, whether Snape knew he was giving it off he didn't know, but he relished in it.