Severus stood, setting his wand on the coffee table in front of him, and concentrated on shifting. He was back in his Animagus form within a matter of seconds, and sat himself on the floor in front of Hermione and waited. He wasn't sure if she would have much energy to talk to him through her mind, she hadn't gotten that much rest, but he was sure that she would try until she succeeded so he'd have to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't hurt herself.

"Thank you," She told him softly, and he nodded his large head, his dark eyes focused but concerned.

"It's ridiculous, really," She started, her lioness face twisting in disgust. Severus let a low growl out of his throat and glared at her.

"Obviously not, or it wouldn't have bothered you," One could not exactly control what affected them, anyhow. Severus had his own fair share of irrational fears.

"It's just... I have these dreams about Voldemort," Severus flinched, his forearm burning even in his Animagus form. Hermione's eyes widened and she immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry, Severus!"

Severus froze. That was the first time he'd heard her say his name. Not that she'd actually said it, but it was in his mind, in her voice, his name. Severus. The way she'd said it, so kindly and full of compassion. He didn't think he'd ever heard anyone say his name like that. He shook his head and instinctively took his huge paw and set it on his nose, ducking his head down towards the floor. Realizing what he was doing, he lifted his paw and made it look like he was itching, padding at his twitching black nostrils before setting his paw back on the floor.

"It's fine. His name evokes a strong response from the Mark. It fades after a moment. Continue," Hermione looked curiously at his forearm, probably looking to see if the Dark Mark was visible, which it was, if she looked hard enough. His hair was slightly discolored on the inside of his foreleg, the rich silver hair a shade darker than normal. She didn't look convinced that he wasn't still in pain, however...she was worried about him... what a strange sensation, to be worried about...but she continued at his request and Severus ignored the pain in his leg as he focused on what she was telling him.

"It's about Harry. My dreams are about Vol- Um, the Dark Lord, and Harry." Severus felt his hackles raise and his claws extract, digging into the floor, and he fought to calm himself in response to the boy's name. Hermione didn't notice, and continued. "I keep dreaming about what's going to happen to him. I'm so worried about him. But even more than that, something's... off." Severus narrowed his eyes. Potter. Was there something wrong with him? No. He just had James's genes. The fucking prick.

"He's been much more temperamental than usual. He's always angry and he snaps at the slightest provocation. And Harry... he never would have normally done something like that to me, Severus. He really wouldn't have," Her eyes softened and her voice quieted. She took a moment, gathering her concentration and energy to continue. Severus watched her carefully, feeling gently around the edges of her mind to sense her stability, but she was fine for now. He would allow her to continue.

"I know you think he's always like that, but he isn't. He's always been so kind, friendly, caring. I can't imagine that he would curse me and then not even apologize afterwords," She looked thoughtfully at Severus, tilting her head slightly. "And really, he doesn't hate you that much. Not enough to harm a living being because of it. That's too much like something Vold... the Dark Lord would do -"

She stopped abruptly, her ears pricking up and her body stiffening. Severus stood, his brow furrowed in confusion. He immediately pressed against her mind, but she was fine. She wasn't drained. In fact, she was suddenly bursting with energy.

"Hermione?" He said, his voice deep and concerned. "What is it?"

"Ohmygod, Severus! It can't be.. Can it?" She leapt down gracefully from the couch and brushed by him, moving to pace in front of the fireplace. Her tail was high and swishing madly. It was too much energy, too much movement and it made Severus anxious to not know what she was thinking. He moved in front of her path and she ran into his side, looking up in alarm and slight embarresment before going on to ramble in his mind.

"What if that's it? He's acting like Voldemort; he's angry, volatile, ruthless! What if Voldemort is connecting to Harry through his scar? Can that happen? Well we don't know, how can we know, it won't be in a book because it's never happened before, for Merlin's sake I've been worrying about him and thinking about what might be wrong for ages and now it's suddenly hit me! I've been so blind, so stupid! -"

"Enough!" Severus boomed, his every hair standing on end from the mental electricity and energy that Hermione was letting loose into his mind. She was charged up and he was on the receiving end of her incessant babbling and he couldn't handle it.

"That's enough. Take a breath," He instructed, his voice clipped and short. He was breathing heavily and closed his eyes, bringing forth his mental imagery to calm himself.

Potter.

In touch with the Dark Lord.

Hermione focused herself to calm down. Severus was not the type of man to tolerate an outburst like this, but oh! It made so much sense!

She was buzzing with the energy of possibly solving the 'mystery' that was becoming Harry Potter. Hermione had been noticing the slight changes in his behavior for some time, had even talked to Ron about it, but neither of them had known what was wrong. They'd tried to touch around the subject; if it was the Dursley's, if it was a girl, if it was the pressures of being the 'Chosen One'. They'd gotten nowhere.

But oh! Now she was on to something! What if there was some kind of connection through the scar? That Harry could be influenced by Voldemort? Could they feel traces of one another's emotions? If Harry didn't know what was happening, he wouldn't be able to distinguish between his emotions and the emotions he was feeling from Voldemort. It made so much sense!

She'd been dreaming about what Harry had done to her for a while now. The mere thought of her best friend nearly killing her twisted her gut and made her heart hurt. Sometimes in her dream it would start out as Harry and then there would be a flash and it would be Voldemort, and then after he cast the spell it would turn into Harry again and he'd be down on his knees begging for forgiveness.

The dreams never made sense to her, she'd just thought it was her subconscious being twice as cruel to her as it should have been - making both her best friend and her worst enemy attack her in the same dream.

But her subconscious had been trying to tell her something, hadn't it?

A nose butted her to get her attention and Hermione looked up at the large silver tiger standing in front of her, his head bowed lower to her level, his eyes completely blank and shielded.

"I'm sorry Severus, I got carried away," She said softly in his mind. She was worried he wouldn't let her in, that he would have blocked her out, but he hadn't. He gave her a short nod before holding her eye for a second longer and turning away.

"As much as it pains me to say, it is possible," Came his low rumbling voice in her mind a few seconds later. "Something like Potter's scar has never happened before. The thought that it might be a vessel between Potter and the Dark Lord is entirely valid." He paused again, his ears pinning back and his hackles raising slightly. "And I will admit, now that you mention it, something is different about Potter. I myself found it difficult to believe that he would attempt to harm an innocent animal in cold blood, and to then to discover it was you and to refrain from giving you a genuine apology..." His hackles raised even more and a low growl escaped his throat. He turned back around, then, and looked her directly in the eye.

"If that is the case... if it's true that Potter is being influenced by the Dark Lord, then he is in grave danger, and so is all of the Light. If the Dark Lord discovers the connection between them, he could potentially control Potter and read his mind like an open book," A visible tremble rippled through the muscles of the large tiger before her, and he narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. "We cannot allow that to happen."