"I believe in a practical method for teaching dark spells." Tom says the next day in class, twirling his wand between his fingers. He looks pensively over the heads of the assembled first years. Like the other classes everyone is in one giant group. Around the room is the assembled paraphernalia for dueling, dark detecting and one metal contraption that looks like it would be used for pealing off your toenails or something equally pleasant. Harry of course knows that it is in fact for practicing dodging curses, but the first years are suitably petrified. The Slytherins seem to be holding up a bit better, having lived though one of Riddle's demonstrations already. They are still not sure if he's being serious or not, however. Jeff seems pretty tense and Harry looks between him and the almost-Dark Lord with apprehension. Snape is practically invisible in a dark corner of the room, looking almost as greasy and hateful as he had in Harry's time. "Of course, some spells are unfortunately restricted." He sighs gustily. "I do so enjoy the Cruciatus curse, for example." He grins maliciously. Those few who know the curse gulp audibly. "Oh, I'm sorry. There are some… Muggleborn among us. How rude of me. The Cruciatus is also called the torture curse. It makes one feel pain beyond all imagining." Riddle snaps his wrist, pointing his wand at the assembled first years. The bastard, no matter his purported high ideals, is just as sadistic as he was in my time. Harry seethes. He tenses and subtly tries to get hold of his wand. "On this, the first day… I think I should test you all for tolerance. Yes, that sounds like a plan. Those that can hold out for, oh, three curses? A hex or two? Yes, they may enter the advanced class. I did mention that the advanced class gets to cast the curses, didn't I? Who wants to be first to be tested? If you can name the Dark spells to be cast on you, I'll take requests." He waves a hand at Snape, who glides over in a slightly clumsy version of his old stalk. "It seems we have a randomized list. But I can take volunteers. Who wants to go first? No? I'll let you pass with only two curses if you volunteer."

Harry has a good grip on his wand now, concealed inside his shirt sleeve. He looks around at the assembled students, scared out of their minds. He stands up.

Riddle's eyes widen then narrow to slits. "Well, it seems we have a victim. Come down here, Harry." Harry marches down the aisle. He stops in front of Snape and Riddle, both of whom are smirking at him, an odd glint in their eyes. :Well, well. I should have guessed you would ruin my grand speech again, Harry. Just stand there for a bit and be a good boy.: Harry looks out at the assembled first-years. The Parseltongue has really scared them speechless. The look in their eyes is approaching panic.

"Please, sir! Don't hurt him!" All attention focuses on a Griffindor girl with a mask of bravado poorly covering her shaking. "He's… he's not right in the head, you know that! I thought you were against… against…" She stutters. "Torture." It comes out as a squeak.

"Oh, I see. You want to stand up for him. Does this mean that you volunteer to go first?" Riddle asks.

She shakes her head.

"Then you had better sit down before I hex you where you stand." He hisses. :Hopefully there's a riot. I haven't incited one yet pulling this stunt.: He chuckles darkly. Harry gives Riddle a sharp look from the corner of his eye and relaxes the grip on his wand slightly.

"No! I won't! It's wrong. None of us should have to be cursed." She says, chin quivering.

A boy from Hufflepuff stands up too. "If you try to curse her, I'll curse you!" He says, standing straight but looking ready to bolt. From the resemblance between them Harry assumes they are related somehow.

A Ravenclaw jumps up, too. "You don't need to be cursed to know what they are and how to defend against them!"

Finally a Slytherin leaps up. "You made the anti-child abuse laws! We won't stand for this." Harry sees that now the fear has flipped over to anger.

:Huzzah: Riddle hisses happily, a very odd sound to Harry's ears. It has never been spoken to him in celebration before. Excepting, perhaps, the snake at the zoo. Riddle drops his wand to the floor and raises his hands in the air. Most of the students look confused. "Congratulations class. You are the first ones to defeat me at my own game." He lowers his arms. "Would the four of you please come down here." They hesitate and he grins. "Don't worry, no one will be cursed today. The four of you get fifteen points each for your Houses, as do you Harry." He smiles fondly down a Harry, who is rather confused. If this keeps up much longer, Harry muses, I shall become quite used to being constantly stumped as to what is actually going on. "Now how did you four feel, why did you challenge me?"

The Griffindor girl answers. The four of them are standing together close to the class. "I was tired of being afraid. You gave us no way out. And it was too much to do that to an innocent boy like that." She says stubbornly. Harry almost snorts at being called innocent but manages to keep it contained.

"Were all of you afraid?" Riddle asks the class. There are nods and 'yeses' all around. "Too scared to move?"

The Hufflepuff boy says. "I've never been more scared in my life."

Riddle turns to him. "Then why did you stand?"

"My sister was in trouble. I needed to help her." He says defiantly.

"Very good. Another point to Hufflepuff." Riddle stands straighter and addresses all the students. "What I did today was a demonstration designed to teach you something. My little snakes have already had one such and I am sure they will tell you about it." There is uneasy laughter from the Slytherins in the audience. "I wanted to show you about fear. Cursing someone will cause this fear in them. Think about that before you cast a curse, for once you do, it cannot be taken back. Fear is effective, it can be used as a tool, but remember that it is a tool that can be turned against you. I was in control until these fine folks threatened me. Now I am the one disarmed. Fear can leave people with no place to turn and that makes them dangerous. Be careful and remember how it feels to be the one without power before you cast a spell on anyone. Remember, too, that even when, especially when, you are so scared you can hardly move, that is when you are at your most powerful. The essence of bravery, ladies and gentlemen, is not being fearless. Fear is, as I said a tool. It keeps you aware, lets you know of danger. Bravery is finding something more important to you than that fear, whether it be a family member," he nods to the Hufflepuff, "an innocent," he gestures to the Griffindor, "or an ideal. Remember that as we progress through this year." Riddle holds out his hands to each of the four and Harry in turn. "Thank you all for your bravery. Now, you can sit down."

After everyone has returned to their seats Snape comes up to Riddle and hands him a sheaf of papers. "Now, today you will be taught mostly by myself. There are guest lecturers that will come in on occasion, especially when we are talking about the various dangerous Dark Creatures. In later years you will meet vampires, werewolves and harpies, among other humanoid Dark Creatures. That is not for this year. This year will be, as Mr. Finley pointed out," he nods to the Ravenclaw again, "better served by learning the theory first before putting anything into practice. After we have a firm grasp on these we can start with the practical application. The advanced group might be able to duel sometime this semester, depending on how things progress. For today, however, we will be giving a demonstration of dueling and how curses and hexes are used in them. Mr. Snape will be helping me for that. First however I will pass out your homework for next week." Riddle accepts his wand back from Snape. "On these sheets I have written down one spell. You will submit an essay one foot in length on what type of spell it is: curse, hex or jinx, what it does and how to best use it in a duel. Be creative." With a wave of his wand Riddle sends the sheets flying to all the students. Harry looks down at his and shakes his head. Leg locker. He sighs.

"Now, last thing before the demonstration. Can anyone tell me what I was saying to Harry when I was hissing?"

Students shuffle and look at each other. One Slytherin raises her hand.

"Yes Ms. Rendell?"

"I don't know what you were saying, but I know it was in Parseltongue, the snake language."

"Very good Ms. Rendell. One point to Slytherin. For extra credit, anyone may turn in an essay on what a Parselmouth is, use any details you want. Alright, to the duel!"

Harry watches interestedly as Snape and Riddle set up the dueling table in the front of the room. Finally they stand facing each other on opposite ends of the table. "Alright, first thing to do is to bow to your opponent…" Riddle goes over the various intricacies of the beginning of a duel and Harry looks around to the other students. Most are very interested but some look bored by the introduction, Jeff among them. At the beginning the two take it slow, explaining all the various spells they are about to cast and how to protect against them. Finally Riddle pulls up his wand. "Alright, now Mr. Snape and I will actually duel." Harry perks up. It will be good to see where things stand in this world so far as dueling is concerned. After a brief bow the platform erupts into bolts of lights, the shine of shielding charms and all manner of hissing, growling conjures. Harry is disappointed. Perhaps they aren't really dueling with their whole attention as they need to be aware of where the children are, or perhaps they just don't really want to hurt each other. Either way, Harry has seen better duels between members of the DA. It seems that the first years are suitably impressed though. Whether this is due to their inexperience or if the duel really is representative of dueling in this time Harry is not sure.

After the duel the first years break up and split off into their respective creature-based groups. Jeff and Harry make their way back to their dorm to hang out before going down to Care of Magical Creatures. Harry flops down on the bed with a sigh and Jeff breaks out his Transfiguration text to start his reading. Soon the time is passed and it is time to head to class.

Jeff, Harry and the four others in their group join the other five groups to make their way down to the extensive stables. Hagrid is already pulling out a little cage filled with… creamy fur?

"'Ello! Ye all are lucky, ye get the easiest critter first. This is a Puffskein. Now, lots o' folks keep these guys fer pets, and these are one of the few ye can keep in yer dorms with you if ye want. They usually get along fine with the rats. Some of ye might have more than one Puffskein or have to share, let's see how many of you there are…" It ends up that there are six extra Puffskeins so every group gets an extra. "Now, unlike the rats, they'll not want ter stay with ye all the time. Whoever wants ter take 'em to yer rooms come get a tank fer 'em." Everyone wants to take the Puffskein: who wants to tramp down here when they can feed it in their rooms? "Now, since yer all're takin' 'em, ye'll need ter bring 'em back every Monday for me ter check up on 'em. Also on Monday I want you to bring a sheet with what yeh fed them and when you changed the tank, one entry at least per day." There really wasn't much to the care of a Puffskein, so they got out of their lesson before the half hour was over. Jeff and the other Slytherins volunteer to take the extra as they are all in the same dorm room. The other two readily agree and everyone parts amiably.

Next class is 'Dark Creatures' and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hagrid and Riddle are standing waiting for them in the classroom. Riddle steps forward to grab their attention. "This class is team taught. For Dark Creatures you will have many professors, but mostly Hagrid for this year. Professor Sprout, who you will not have met unless you are in Hufflepuff, does a section on dark plants and we will have guest speakers from time to time that will lecture to the whole school in the evening in lieu of class that week. For today, however, we will be setting you up in the advanced and in depth sections. We didn't get to that this morning what with the duel."

"Make up two lines, one in front o' me and the other with Prof'ser Riddle." Jeff and Harry line up in front of Hagrid. The big half-giant takes the children one by one into the next room. Most of the kids come out either cackling gleefully or really pale. Harry wonders what in the world could be going on inside.

Finally it is Harry's turn.

"Ok, Harry, now, the spell ter combat this critter is 'Ridikulus.'" A boggart! Of course! "Do yeh know what it is?"

Harry nods his head.

Hagrid scratches his head. "Well, let's just practice the spell then." He is obviously stumped as to how to get Harry to answer the question without speaking. Harry is beginning to see the advantages of being mute.

Harry waves an annoyed wand at the chest on the floor and pops it open. Hagrid pauses from taking his wand out from his sleeve to look at the chest in confusion. Harry spares a brief thought to the fact that Hagrid has a wand to begin with (no Chamber of Secrets, no framing the big guy) before his attention is full focused on the Boggart in front of him. What will it turn into? A dementor? Voldemort?

Harry looks as the mist coalesces and out steps… himself. The boy in front of him looks exactly as he does in the mirror. The waif grins evilly and takes out his wand. The eyes are turning more red with every passing second, the pupils becoming slits. His skin is getting paler by the second. Harry is watching himself turn fully into Voldemort. How to make this funny? Harry can barely think. He hadn't been prepared for this. "Ridikulus." Harry croaks out. The figure suddenly sports a furry kitty suit and a collar with the name 'Mrs. Norris' hanging on a pendant. Harry snorts. The red slit eyes work perfectly with the fluffy costume for a perfect Mrs. Norris look-alike.

Hagrid coughs. "Very good, Harry." He waves his wand to close the disgruntled Boggart back in the chest. "Yer in the advanced group, then." He adds, showing Harry out with an odd look. "Go over ter Professer Riddle's line then."

"Hello, Harry." Riddle says when Harry gets up to him at last. "Were you put in the lower class?" Harry shakes his head. "No?" Riddle frowns at that. He puts his fingers under Harry's chin and lifts it to look into Harry's eyes. Harry easily bats away the weak attempt at Leglimency. Is he even trying? Harry wonders. Riddle sighs and takes him inside. "Well if you are in the advanced Dark Creatures you will have to be in advanced Defense unless you are truly hopeless at it, which I doubt." Riddle looks at Harry for a long moment with his arms crossed. "I admit I did not think you would be doing so well here at Hogwarts." He sighs and turns around to gather something from behind him. Harry is still disconcerted to have his enemy turn his back to him. It gives him an itch in his wand hand to hex the older man. "Well here you go. This is a curse detector. You will be hexing this." Harry stares at the thing. A training tool for casting dark spells? An interesting concept and one that would absolutely be banned back in his time. It looks a little bit like a Muggle garden gnome, complete with little hat. "Alright, cast three curses, a hex and two jinxes on it, please Harry."

Harry shrugs and casts the first spell on the item. He notes that it turns blue. Hmm. Harry casts the next spell and the item turns green. Harry is intrigued. He casts the same spell again and the gnome turns intense lime.

"Different curses, Harry." Riddle reminds him.

Harry contemplates. It is not different curses that cause different colors, as the same spell had been different colors. Something tickles his mind from capturing the fifth Horucrux. Hermione had used crystals to get to it. The different colors meant different emotions. Perhaps this is the same? Harry casts the last curse while trying to feel as happy as possible. The gnome turns yellow-green. Harry grins and casts his hex at the gnome. It turns brilliant yellow. Laughing silently Harry casts a jinx. Again bright yellow. He regards the gnome, thinking of the Dursleys, who had had a similar gnome out in the garden where they made him work long hours in the summer. The basilisk inside him stirs with glee just as he fires off the last jinx. It turns a weird mix of crimson and bright orange. Harry hurriedly suppresses both his panic and the basilisk shaped soul. He trembles. Never am I going to deliberately feel anger again, Harry vows.

Riddle waits for a while without speaking, regarding the gnome still glowing slightly with a swirl of red-orange. "Harry, did you figure out what the gnome does?" Riddle asks him quietly. Harry gives a sharp nod, still preoccupied with the restless soul inside him. It hisses at him as he shoves it back down into his subconscious. Riddle rubs at his chest, a look of discomfort on his face. "Do you know how to make it black?" He asks softly. Harry nods again. Black is death. Yessssss the soul inside him hisses. Riddle makes a small grunt and looks at Harry with a mixed expression. "Can you turn it blue for me again?" He asks, rubbing his chest harder.

Harry closes his eyes and brings up all of the skills that he can muster of Occulmancy and quiets his thoughts. The Voldemort settles down inside him with a grumble. Bored again Harry fires off a charm at the gnome. It turns a lazy blue.

"You can go now, Harry." Riddle says, watching the boy leave with one hand still over his chest and emotions flitting over his face faster than even he can catalogue them.

Later that night, Harry is learning a charm for star watching he has never used before that makes them look just beyond his fingertips. I wonder how this works for looking at distances. He resolves to check that out later, however, the charm is light years ahead of anything he's ever used to look at the stars.

Meanwhile, a staff meeting is being held in the Headmaster's office. "Headmaster, I don't know whether to be proud of Harry, or worried." Riddle opens the discussion. "He has gotten into the advanced sections of all the different classes he has taken so far."

"He transfigures like he is in fourth year at the very least. I don't know what to think." McGonagall adds. "I was quite surprised that he had transfigured anything at all."

Dumbledore hums to himself, sitting back in his chair and sucking on a lemon drop. "Tom, is this communication usual for young Harry? Both you and Minerva have mentioned him responding to your questions the past two days."

"He does seem to be more lucid recently." Tom rubs his chest uneasily.

"Is something wrong, Tom?" Dumbledore asks him.

Riddle gives the older wizard a look that says 'later'. Dumbledore gives a slight nod. "When I tested him, it took Harry three spells to figure out the trick to the Intention Device. He was playing the different colors like someone who has been trained in Occulmancy."

Dumbledore sits forward in his seat. "Well, I want the rest of you to keep an eye on him this week. We don't know what this boy has been through and we want to help him as best we can." The other Heads of House nod. "Thank you for coming. Tom, if you would stay?"

When they are alone Tom speaks again. "When he was playing with the Intention Device, he made himself very angry. The gnome was almost blood red, but I think he scared himself. It was twisted with orange." Tom rubs his chest again in remembrance. "He made me uneasy myself. Something changed in his eyes, and I got a strange pain in my chest."

Dumbledore's eyes narrow. "Bring a spell recorder on you the next time you are near our young waif. I have a suspicion that there is more to him than meets the eye. No child can learn all he seems to know in less than ten years of life." Riddle nods pensively. "Tell that apprentice of yours to keep a close eye on him as well, we don't want to leave this to young Jeffery."

Harry comes back from the Astronomy tower feeling like he knows more about what the stars really are than he would if he'd continued on to NEWT level classes. He knows all the stars and constellations from the classes at his Hogwarts, but they had been limited to magical telescopes. The teacher had told them Mrs. Alice Longbottom had invented the charm only a few years ago as her Mastery of Charms thesis. Harry is glad that his friend's parents are still together even if his aren't and that they are not insane through overuse of the Cruciatus.

Harry stretches out on his bed, looking up at the canopy of green and silver and waited for Jeff to lock him in. Although the star gazing had been cool and the gnome thing fun, Hagrid's test had really thrown him off balance. There is a real possibility that he will revert to Voldemort if the other's soul can take him over completely. Even his pretend anger to change the color of the gnome made Voldemort stir within him. And this Voldemort would be stronger than any one seen in even his own world, with his reconstructed soul and Harry's own power backing him up. Harry had been noticing an increase in power and the disturbing habit he had started where he would just wave a hand or wand and cause things to happen without incantation. Not to mention the flashes of memory that are not his own. Harry curls up into a ball on his side and tries to fall asleep. The rat reappears from wherever it has been all day to claim the pillow again. Harry glares at her. She calmly stretches out on the pillow, looking far too large to hide in his robes all day without noticing. He scrunches down on the bed disgruntled, contemplating the rat.

Harry has a sudden thought that raises his eyebrow. Of course it isn't a normal rat. It is a brindle rat. Some of the others were polka dot. Obviously this is a magical rat. Harry extends a hand to the rat, who seems to be getting bigger as he looks at her. She hisses at him and he hovers his hand over her wary form. Suddenly shapes spring into his mind. He snatches his hand back quickly, but not before the coiled soul inside him identifies a list of spells. Engorgement, shrink, hide, record, report. The spells seem to be initiated by the rat for the most part except for the record, which is activated all the time, and report, which is activated from outside the rat. Harry panics, checking on the Voldemort frantically. The soul is coiled peaceably around his own, one lazy eye looking at him with an expression of half-hearted disdain. Harry lets the rat have the pillow, it isn't as though the bed isn't long enough for him to sleep at the foot. I have to start researching soul magic. I need to find better ways to contain Voldemort beyond just my instincts. With that he drifts off into a fitful sleep.

"Severus! Wake up, I can't get him to stop and he's going to start breaking down the shielding spells soon. Severus!" Snape wakes up groggily to the incessant shaking of his bed. He yawns and blinks blearily down at Jeff.

"What?" he asks muzzily.

"Come quick, it's Harry."

Snape grumbles and drags himself out of bed. As the assistant to the Head of House he sleeps in a room just off the Common Room to both enforce curfew and be available should anything come up. Snape mutters to himself about foolish first years and Heads of Houses who tell him to keep a closer eye on foolish first years the night before they have a screaming fit. Snape rubs his eyes and yawns when they get to the dorm room. All the other children are asleep except Harry and Jeff. "Go back to bed, Jeff. I'll take care of him from here."

"But…"

"No buts, Tom told me to handle anything that came up and you have school tomorrow." Jeff grudgingly gets back into his own bed and draws the curtain. Snape steels himself to enter inside the silencing charm. The second he is past the edges of the bed he can hear the screaming. Jeff did a very good job with the wards, for Harry is quite loud and thrashing. Snape takes a second to reinforce all the wards before closing the curtains and sitting up on the bed. Harry is muttering between fits of ear splitting wailing. He's saying that French phrase again, something about death and birds. Snape winces as Harry starts to just scream again. "Shh, shh, it's alright. You're safe."

In the dream Harry looks up at himself riding the basilisk and casts curse after curse upwards. The other he just laughs. :Pathetic weak fool: Evil Harry jumps down from the basilisk and starts to walk toward him, his red eyes glowing with unholy glee. Behind him the basilisk starts devouring Harry's friends: Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Luna… :Did you think you could beat me? You cannot defeat yourself. Both of our eyes used to be brown you know, brown like our pathetic fathers. Mine turned red, hate: yours turned green. You know what that green is? It's the curse that should have killed you, should have killed me. We're immune now. Why don't you cast it on yourself again? Maybe this time we'll end up in a world that I rightfully rule with me in charge in stead of you. With your power added to mine, I shall kill that world's Voldemort and take his place. In fact, I think that I should do that here, don't you agree:

"Noo!" Harry wakes with a start, trying to fight free of what is confining him. His struggles still as he feels the comforting circles being rubbed into his back.

"That's it, Harry. It was only a dream." Snape says softly.

Harry bolts away from Snape, smacking his head on the wooden pole bracing up the curtains. His rat dives for cover at under the headboard as her spot is overtaken.

Snape sits up too, yawning. "It's alright Harry, it's just me. You were having a nightmare, a particularly nasty one it sounded like." He rubs his eyes and inches forward. "You good now, mate?" Harry blinks in confusion, trying to remember what his relationship with Snape is that he's calling him 'mate.' Snape scoots closer and gathers the smaller boy up in his arms. "I wish you could tell us what is wrong so that we can find the bastard who did this to you and gut him slowly." Snape says fiercely.

Harry chokes on a sob and starts bawling. Snape rocks him back and forward and murmurs into his hair. Harry clings to him like he is the last solid thing on the planet. Harry sobs out all his fear and anger and ends up feeling drained, only remaining awake and upright through his death grips on Snape's faded grey nightshirt. He quivers, panting, face buried in the front of the shirt. He feels wrung out but relieved. Getting all the pain out like this is significantly better than trying to keep it all in. No one has ever held him like this that he can remember, Harry realizes.

"There we go, you had a good cry about whatever it was. You're all right now. Here, let's tuck you back in, ok?" Snape moves to pry Harry's fingers off his clothing with little success. "Come on, mate, you have to let me go." Snape says, attempting to lift the fingers off one by one. Harry shakes his head empathically even as he yells at himself. You're not a child! Just let go of him, this is SNAPE, the one who tormented you for years, the greasy git that almost let you die by Voldemort's hands. Except it isn't Snape, not his anyway, and the truth is, even that Snape had come through for him in the end… hadn't in fact let him die. And right now Harry IS a child and something deep inside him doesn't want to be left alone and just wants to be held. "Alright, I'll stay with you until you fall asleep, but I can't stay here all night. We don't want people to call you a crybaby, or me a soft mothering fool for that matter." Harry just buries his head deeper into Severus' chest and relaxes finally into the murmurs and hand rubbing the top of his head. For the first time since this whole crazy thing started, Voldemort lies deeply asleep and barely perceptible underneath Harry's own soul.

Harry wakes up and rolls over, groaning. He rubs his hand over his scar but for once it is not the source of his headache. He hops out of bed, casually dismissing the wards as he does so and pads over to the bathroom. It isn't quite time to wake up and Harry can see the other boys sprawled out on their beds. It bothers Harry a bit that he doesn't even know any of their names except for Jeff. He has a vague feeling that trusting too easily will lead him to fall into another trick of Voldemort's. But unless Voldemort can fabricate an entire reality, then it is not necessary to have those suspicions, especially since he can still feel the Dark Lord within himself. If Voldemort can fashion this whole parallel reality than Harry doesn't really have a chance against him anyway. Harry sighs and turns on the tap in the bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face. It feels good against his flushed skin. He looks up in the mirror at his tired face, starting again at the green/red brown eyes and the unfamiliar face. His heart nearly stops in horror when he sees his scar, however. It had been hidden from sight the last time he had looked in a mirror, something that Harry usually found was a good thing. This time however it hid from him something perhaps more disturbing than the eyes.

Harry's scar is no longer in the shape of a lightening bolt: it is a somewhat blobby Dark Mark.

The scar itself hides the shape a bit, being white and somewhat irregular. But for someone who had seen the Mark more times than should be allowed, it is all too obvious. Harry flees from the mirror. Not stopping in the dorm room but running down the stairs and through the Common Room, Harry almost makes it out of the Slytherin House entirely before he runs head first into something that lets out a startled grunt and falls over. Harry can't see and for a moment he is afraid his eye correction charm has become disabled, but he soon realizes that he can't see for the tears.

"Harry?" Severus asks, collecting himself up off the floor. "What are you doing out of bed this early?" He picks Harry up and tries to set him on his feet but keeps a hold on Harry's pajamas when the boy's legs refuse to hold him up. He picks Harry up and carries him over to the couch. "Did you have another nightmare?" Severus asks worriedly. Harry grabs Snape's left arm and pulls the sleeve back, revealing an arm crossed by a few faint scars but utterly clear of Dark Marks. Snape snatches back his arm and pulls the sleeve back down. "What was that for?" He asks in a more Snapish tone of voice than Harry has heard directed at him since he got here.

Harry curls up into a ball at the end of the couch, sucking in lungfuls of air. So what if it looks like a Dark Mark now? There has to be a way to kill Voldemort's soul, not just to hold it. Harry will find this way and use it, then he won't have to deal with the Dark Mark on his forehead anymore. Harry jumps and almost screams when a hand lands on his back. It doesn't do anything for several seconds so he uncurls enough to turn and face Snape. The child in him wants to rush into the arms and cry himself silly again, the rest of him holds steady.

"You used to have a lot of nightmares, those first few years you were with us. Why are you getting them again?" Snape asks, clearly not expecting a response. "We all thought that you were getting better, you are able to respond to us now, you're doing better in school than anyone had any right to hope, but…" Snape sighs and lifts his hand.

Harry stares at Severus and contemplates. /I wish you would tell me about your past./

"My mom was a pureblood from the family Prince. My dad is a Muggle, he was really horrible to me when I was growing up, I had to learn how to block and cast curses just to keep him from killing me. He eventually did kill my mother, that was in third year of school. Remus told Dumbledore and that's how I ended up with Tom, you came a few years later…"

/Stop that/ Harry says again in his mind, panicky. Snape frowns and shakes his head, looking lost and unsure of himself. I can tell people to do things and they do them? Harry thinks, scared. The soul inside him chuckles evilly. Harry starts shaking uncontrollably.

"Oh, no, don't be scared. My dad's in jail now, he can't hurt you. Tom got the Muggle cops to put him through their system and he's in jail now."

/Why the Muggle system/

"Because the Wizarding laws weren't written at that time, Tom got them put through after my Muggle father killed my witch mother. There was a lot more support then since Tom was attacking Muggles instead of Wizards as the source of the problem." Harry squawks and backs away again. How is he doing the mind thing? To him it just feels like he is thinking to himself.

: It is a form of Leglimancy./ Harry jumps up from the couch. Inside him the basilisk stretches lazily. :It is useful when controlling minions. It is easy to do on Severus, even without his Dark Mark./ Harry turns and flees out the door, aware that he cannot run away from something inside his soul, but wanting even so to get away from anyone who could be influenced by Voldemort. Harry runs all the way past the Hogwarts boundaries and into the Forbidden Forrest, Disapparating with a crack and no idea of a destination. Maybe I'll splinch myself over half of England and kill the both of us. Oh, to be so lucky.

"Everyone just calm down!" Dumbledore's voice rips through the assembled Heads of House, professors and apprentices. "We need to calm down and figure out what exactly has happened here. Mr. Snape, if you would tell us again, without interruptions, please." He says, giving a stern look to the assembled Griffindors.

Severus takes a deep breath and begins again from the beginning, trying to ignore Sirius in lieu of being helpful in the search to find Harry. "He was upset last night, he had a nightmare. I helped him fall back to sleep," Severus ignores Sirius' snort and Remus' subsequent punch to the mutt's arm, "after he fell back to sleep I went back to my own room. Then this morning, about ten or fifteen minutes ago, he came down into the Common Room and almost knocked me over from where I was by the entrance charming the message board for the day. He seemed very upset, especially when I mentioned my father… then he just bolted out of the room. I attempted to keep up with him, but he was running so fast that I lost him before we were even out of the dungeons."

"Are you so slow Snivellus that you can't even keep sight of an eleven year old?" Sirius sneers at him. Remus growls at Sirius and he sits back in his chair again, pouting.

Tom rubs a hand across his chest and addresses the question indirectly. "We have seen in the past Harry's bursts of inexplicable speed. Usually he would not go very far before stopping and looking confused. Something must have scared him very badly."

"Yeah like Snape's face! Ow!" Sirius cows under the dual smack of Lilly and Remus.

"This is not the time for childish name-calling, Mr. Black." Dumbledore chides, none of his usual jovial nature in his voice.

"Don't worry, sir. I can ignore the barking of mutts." Severus says, only half-heartedly interested in the play of insults with Harry missing but feeling honor bound to compete.

"Hey, this mutt's nose is what's going to find this precious retard for you, Snivellus."

"Do not point fingers for your own defects, Black! You are just annoyed with him for not being enthralled by your infantile canine antics."

"Children!" Dumbledore thunders. "This is not productive."

"Does Harry have his rat on him?" Riddle asks, attempting to divert attention.

"He does, however the tracking spell is vague and intermittent. It is almost as though he is too far away to sense. We shall first see if we can find him by Mr. Black's nose." Dumbledore nods to Sirius, who smirks.

"I knew it was a bad idea for him to come so soon. The boy cannot even talk for goodness sake. And look at him now, he is clearly terrified of being here." McGonagall says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Now is not the time for that, Minerva, as you well know." Dumbledore chides. "I would like this to affect classes as little as possible. As much as the welfare of Harry is of great concern, it would be unfair to the rest of the students to shirk on their education. Mr. Snape, can you handle the classes for this morning?"

"Yes, they are all advanced classes but we are merely going over syllabi today, but…"

"No, Severus, the Headmaster is right. He is my charge and I will look for him. You must stay and cover my duties until I return." Riddle turns to Sirius. "Mr. Black, if you would be so good." He turns to McGonagall "and you would be so kind as to let me borrow your apprentice." McGonagall gives a curt nod.

"I shall come with you as well, Tom." Dumbledore says. "I have the tracking charm for the rats on me." He turns to the other teachers. "If you all can return to your classrooms, I believe we are already running five minutes behind schedule. Thank you all for responding so quickly to this crisis, however." Dumbledore looks around the room. "Who has Mr. O'Donnell first period?"

"I believe I do, Headmaster." Slughorn says.

"If you would let him know the situation? He is probably quite frantic."

"Of course." Slughorn says with a nod.

"Alright then, gentlemen, let's go."

Sirius runs ahead down toward the dungeons, barking excitedly. The two older wizards trail behind him, discussing quietly to each other. "Headmaster, I think Harry is even more powerful than we initially thought. As he is becoming more aware of his surroundings I am beginning to fear that we will not be able to control him. I have never heard Severus talk about his past to anyone, that he should do so casually before us after seemingly spouting it at random to Harry… it is disconcerting."

"Indeed, you are right, Tom. I am also worried about these pains you are having. It seems every time young Harry does something particularly unusual you feel it." Tom nods and they say no more. Sirius in front of them has started baying. Shaking their heads they follow the teen.