A/N Harry has a secret... I bet you can guess... :'(

Disclaimer: Same as last chapter.

Blind

Chapter 11

Severus inhaled deeply, remembering the smells of this place from his childhood. They weren't exactly pleasant. It WAS a factory town.

He touched the peeling wallpaper, fingers running over the dusty tomes on his many shelves. Anger at the dark lord crashed into him with the force of the Hogwarts Express.

'Why did he have to take away my eyesight? Why not my hearing, or walking abilities? I NEED to see! Seeing... Its all I have: Seeing the potions I'm brewing, reading my books, seeing HER eyes...'

Painful tears prickled behind his eyes. Severus let himself slump elegantly into his favorite armchair, glad that he never changed where the furniture was.

He felt so alone in this dark world he lived in now. Like he was drifting in nothingness, and no one was bothering enough to try and drag him back down to Earth.

'People can't even touch my skin anymore, without my going off on them!'

Severus curled in on himself, feeling coldness flood through his veins.

All of the sudden, a scream cut through the air, making Severus jump up, (Get his robes twisted around himself, fall to the ground, climb back up again), point his wand around frantically, before remembering Harry.

Severus jogged up the stairs, running his thin pale fingers along the rough wall. He found the door that the screams were emanating from, and burst in.

He walked quickly from the door to the bed, feeling it for the lump that was Harry.

"Stop, please! Please, NO MORE! I...can't...go...on..." the boy gasped, once Severus's hand found his arm.

"Potter! Wake up!" Severus shouted, but the sound of heart wrenching sobs met his ears, so he swallowed hard, gripping the boy's bare shoulders, shaking him a bit. Severus felt like throwing up at the skin-to-skin contact.

Harry awoke with a gasp, pulling away from the hands, even though he knew it was his teacher. Snape was jerking his head around, his eyes rolling, trying to get his bearings.

"Don't touch me!" Harry gasped, pulling his legs up to his chest, pushing the hot blankets off his sweat-panted legs.

Severus narrowed his eyes, tilting his head, before rubbing his face, tiredly. Harry turned his head away, even though his teacher couldn't see his tears.

"Aren't we a pair," Severus muttered, running a shaky hand through his hair.

Harry laughed uneasily. "Yeah. Broken pretty bad, huh?"

Snape made a choking sound, wrapping his arms around his torso. "More like destroyed."

Harry sighed, finally resting his dull eyes on his teacher, who was shivering. He gently draped a soft blanket around the man's thin shoulders. He tensed, before relaxing. Harry though the light blue robes made the man look... gentler. "I dunno. Maybe we can be repaired?"

Severus touched the blanket, smiling wearily. "You can. You're still young, still innocent."

Harry laughed bitterly. "Innocent? I don't think so, sir."

Severus turned to face him, his black eyes staring intensely, despite him seeing nothing. "You haven't done the things I've done. You are as innocent as a baby compared to me."

Harry turned away again, tugging on the waist band of his grimy sweatpants. "I'm sorry sir, but you're wrong. I have never been a child, you know."

Severus sighed, laying back on the bed, too tired to remain vertical. "I know. From the minute your... and you got that scar..."

Harry closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, sir."

Severus's face became puzzled, as he adjusted his position to lie beside Harry. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

There was a brief pause.

"I'm sorry for thinking you were trying to steal the stone. I'm sorry for being an arrogant brat and calling you names. I'm sorry that we risked our lives in third year and you had to come and save us. I'm sorry for stunning you. I'm sorry for thinking you were trying to kill me. I'm sorry you had to lie to Umbitch-er-bridge. I'm sorry I looked in your pensieve... And I'm ESPECIALLY sorry for how Pettigrew, Professor Lupin, Dad, and... S-Sirius treated you..." Harry curled in on himself, angry and sad and everything. Why did their last conversation have to be about the damn Pensieve thing?!

Severus felt the boy beside him curl up into a protective ball, crying. 'He hasn't grieved over the mutt, yet,' he thought bewilderedly.

"Its all right. Most of that wasn't your fault. They were merely... circumstance."

Harry let out a single sob. "Bloody horrible circumstances."

Severus sighed. "My fault, really. And Albus's. He was just... so sure that the Dark Lord would return..." A deep breath.

"It was so you could continue spying. Wasn't it." It wasn't a question.

There was silence. Harry hesitated, before pulling the covers up around both of them, trying to rid the room of the chilliness. Professor Snape flinched as their skin came in contact, but relaxed into the soft spacious bed.

"I didn't see anything. Last year, I mean," Severus whispered, unconsciously pulling his soft, sky blue robes and loose grey clothes tighter around his emaciated figure. Harry noticed, feeling bad at how vulnerable the man seemed.

"I didn't want you to see, not really. Guess I'm not so bad at Occlumency after all, ey?" Severus tried to roll his eyes, but gasped as sharp pains drove through them.

"Try not to move your eyes so much. The wounds could split open again," Harry advised quietly.

"You were awful close to that friend of yours, weren't you? The one that was... in the same predicament I am in now."

Harry gave a half smile. "Yeah, pretty close... I helped him 'see' again."

Severus was reminded about how Harry said the child's eyes were able to heal, thanks to the magical core. But what had Harry said? 'He focused on learning how to get along being blind, he stopped focusing on the pain. His eyes healed themselves, and he got enough of his vision back to see with glasses.' Could that happen for him?

"You helped him 'see'?" Severus asked.

"With his hands, with his ears, with his nose, with his mouth, with everything. You can already feel along the walls fine, and my guess is smells and hearing has become stronger." Snape nodded. "They are the first. But you'll probably get a lot of headaches, since everything is so intense, and your eyes are trying to see."

Severus laughed. "Headaches? I was held under the Cruciatus curse for five minutes, before being beaten and having my eyes s-stabbed with big...heated...knives... I can stand a little headache."

Harry shook his head, pushing his mind away from the vision. Bellatrix had even thrown up a couple times while Snape was being tortured. "It is like the Cruciatus curse. Your eyes burn and itch at the same time, your ears constantly pop, your nose feels so tensed up, and the pain is from the back of your neck to your eyebrows..."

Severus fell very still. "Mr. Potter-"

"I'm going to sleep, sir, if that's all right? I still feel a bit tired and sore. G'night."

Severus didn't say anything. He stood to go, but found he couldn't. Potter was holding onto his soft healing robes for dear life.

A/N Gosh, this story is sooooo Fluffy! Hehe! Definately not like Dying, all of us. What can I say? I'm a diverse author!

I go back to school tomorrow. Ninth grade. Yay. Geometry? Well... Probably not as frequent updates. Once a week, hopefully, if not more.

Review!