Harry awoke with a start, ready to tear the covers off of his head. That is, until a large hand clamped over his mouth, and he saw Snape's head draped with the sheet that covered them both.

"Shhhh…" Snape whispered. "You had to rest. How well the next eight hours go, depend on your strength. There is a plan in motion to get you and Iece out of here. It has nothing to do with helping the Backaal. However, the queen is a pure Earth element, in spite of those who have turned against her. It would not do to torch one's only home and she is an Earth Guardian. What she, and those loyal to her, do for this planet, is irreplaceable. I will help her if I can, but your escape is my priority."

With his mouth muffled, Harry remembered that he'd been the recipient of a sleeping charm and also, apparently, forced to awaken.

He asked as soon as Snape's hand left his mouth, "Is Draco okay? Is he trying to heal?"

"Draco is walking just fine. Before I tell you more, simply know that it's best to allow the queen to think that you and I are inappropriately close. That falls into alignment with the tale I've spun for many. We are a veritable cesspool of immorality. In spite of her age, the queen knows nothing of human psychology and cultural morals. She's willing to over look things that would be highly suspect to other humans. She has no bias."

Harry thought about it. Putting it in his own words made more sense to him. "She can't judge what humans judge because she's not human?"

"Correct. We must take advantage of that. Now, I'm going to answer your questions, but not with spoken words right here. Relax your mind and let me in. There is much to tell you."

Before Harry could tell him that it was impossible to return to a relaxed state, something ripped his thought processes apart, dividing the hemispheres of his brain, leaving him with no reference point of reality. He only knew that it went dark and when he could see again, he was in a dim room. A class room. Light outside appeared muted and dull. All the furniture looked centuries old and covered with dust. Harry sat in his student robes, cloth bound books stacked before him. The other seats were empty. At the head of the room, stood Snape. He wrote something on the chalk board.

In fat, broad swipes, it read, The Plan. He turned around and appeared in much the same way as he had Harry's first year. A bit too thin, sneering, and impatient. The reason for his vexation, Harry now understood. There must've been so much riding on his shoulders back then. But now, this was an illusion created by both of them, by what they knew of each other and what they expected. In a purely subjective environment, such as a person's memories, visual details could not be relied upon. After all, the place was a bit creepy, and too related to the setting that seventeen year-old Snape had attacked Harry in. That was as close as Harry dared to be to Snape's personal memories and the crime he wished he could unsee.

"Harry, snap out of it! Control your attention," Snape said harshly.

He commanded, "Listen closely. I have brought you into a memory, much like the painting. It is too dangerous to tell you everything, in case the queen is more capable than she lets on. I have already figured out the solution to her problem, but she won't like it. All I'm trying to do now is position you at a precise window of extraction. In order to do that, we will need to get your child into your arms. We must come up with a reason to get them to let you hold her. There are wizards around who can prevent us from apparating, but if we keep everyone distracted by actually achieving what the queen wants, we won't have to apparate. Those waiting on the other side, can open a portal just as those rebels did, once we generate enough magic to signal our location. The problem is, if one is able to detect our whereabouts, the other is also. With that possible certainty, we must create a defense."

Harry's heart leapt at what he was hearing. "The Ministry is trying to rescue me?"

"The Ministry and the CIUM. This entire affair is considered a global threat, requiring every resource the United Nations can provide. The use of magic gives the Ministry a particular upper hand. They need wizards, though the Backaal's subterranean system crosses international boundaries and waters, and makes it necessary to join forces with a political spectrum of authorities."

"Eight hours?" That seemed oddly specific.

"That's how long British Defenses and MI6 gives us. Their seismologists are saying that's how long this place will hold up under the attack of sound weapons. Weapons that are causing geological devastation as we speak. Multiple governments are allied to take control of the situation. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and China, are all in contact with the Ministry. Wizards, it is presumed, have an obvious advantage, but those we're up against have wizards on their side too. The CIUM want to find the weapons and take down the Backaals using them. Their priority is neutralizing the resistance, not rescuing you. My job is to get you out of here before those fighting the queen break through or cause enough damage to bring the mountain range down upon us."

Harry weighed this magnitude only as an afterthought. Nothing mattered to him but getting Iece out. He didn't feel an ounce of guilt. It wasn't up to him to play God, pretending he could come to everyone's aid just because he was famous for taking the lead with Voldemort. Apparently, if it wasn't for his selfish human trait of putting his daughter first, these other people didn't have much of a chance.

Snape continued, his words were tight and urgent. "The queen and this cave system are one. Her desires have transferred her power from the earth to her womb, a womb she created by using your magic. She was never meant to operate that way, yet she has willed it into being. She has taken power that was meant for many and given it to one. Now she doesn't understand why her temple is failing. She blames the disloyalty of her kind."

Harry got it. "So it's like she lost one ability for another. Like a muggle operating system. A biological computer. She can only operate one system at a time on her hardware."

Snape's brow wrinkled at the crude analogy, but it worked. "Perhaps."

"But she only had the kid a few years ago. She said this place has been going downhill for ages. The heart went out a long time ago."

Snape, uncharacteristically, was speaking so fast, Harry made it a point to focus on his lips.

"Everything she feels, is connected to this place. She didn't just wake up one morning and decide to have a child, there was no such precedence. She awakened in her evolution, to discontent, eons ago. That meant her people felt it too. Longing grew in her heart. My guess is this was the first stages of the shift in those loyal to her. Discontentment grew in them. Her connection with them weakened only slightly, but enough for her to feel it and to see consequences. No doubt, they stayed longer and longer on the surface, fascinated with humans and learned to hide themselves among them. They adapted to freedom and infected their whole clan with the idea of living on the surface. The queen found that she could no longer control them. The more this puzzled her, the more she had to attend to it, the more she awakened from a state of grace that had always maintained harmony for her. Now she actually had to think about it and work to achieve it.

"Small numbers of her people plotted against her, believing their lives would be better if they were not connected to her at all. When she had to contend with war, she was completely unprepared. Her remaining strength went to defense, which included working with wizards and using that light in her head to create weapons. By then, what she calls the heart, had long gone out and she was obsessed with creating more of her kind the way all other creatures do. In her mind, this would replenish her populations and their loyalty. The ability to create life would strengthen her and build back up her fortress. Then Voldemort came along and made all of her dreams come true."

Harry said, "It was the worst thing she could've done, right? Her having a child, took the power of loyalty from her people, cut the empathic nature between them, and gave it to a child too sick to live. Right?"

"Perhaps not. She is of the Elemental Realm and this is her kingdom. When elementals want to become something else, they undergo a transformation. Perhaps this is her natural evolution. In choosing a child over her people, she has chosen a different path. Either way, in eight hours, we leave her to her fate."

That was fine with Harry. He shoved any concerns about her away. "So, any ideas on getting the queen to let me hold Iece?"

"We have to time it perfectly. That involves creating the illusion that we can get this temple functioning on its own, operating without us once we leave. It needs a perpetual source of magic. I can make collective cells of the natural minerals found in the cave and infuse them. They would act as battery cells, but we have no source of magic to keep them charged indefinitely. I measured that growth vibrating at 82,000 Hz, at its strongest display. You can handle small, bursts, but continuous use of your magic, in that range, would render you unconscious, regardless of the Elder Wand's capabilities. Prolonged use would certainly kill you, or worse."

Before Harry could ask what was worse, the memory of suffering a stroke, and the ensuing photos of his helplessness, hurt as it flashed across his mind. For some reason, Lucius's steel expression framed itself so blatantly in his mind, with extra blond on top, that he winced in disgust.

Snape continued, "You're not meant to run your magic wide open like that for extended periods. You're not meant to power worlds."

Suddenly, a door, adjacent to the blackboard, which neither realized existed, opened with a forceful bang. It slammed into the wall behind it, breaking its hinges. Heavy mist, filled with blue shadows, poured into the room. The vapor billowed quickly, announcing the arrival of something unexpected.

Snape's wand was ready. "Harry… "

Harry stood.

A strong, erect figure parted the vaporous entrance, his sneer practically preceding him. Lucius appeared as if lit by a backlight. His cape and hair appeared extra intimidating, and sinisterly voluminous about his shoulders. The emerald eyes of snake pendants on his scarf, winked under a mysterious light.

He smiled coldly at Harry, "Yes, that was a very satisfying night. You see, I like you best when you're helpless."

Harry was already throwing a curse at Lucius and Snape had already jumped to thwart it. "No, Harry! It's not him."

Snape cast a spell in hopes of absorbing and neutralizing any release of Harry's magic. He only half succeeded, watching as part of Harry's magic evaporated Lucius's form, along with the next set of walls and rooms behind him, until all that remained was a cartoonish demolition of exposed rooms and ruined walls as far as they could make out.

Snape grabbed Harry's arm, forcing him to put the one holding the imagined Elder Wand down.

"He isn't real. Not here. Lucius is still bedridden, confined in his home. He's awake, but he isn't strong enough to come here. You must not use such force. The Backaal have ways of measuring disturbances in their range. They'll know we're up to something, or worse, those rebels will detect us. Calm your mind."

"Where'd he come from then? I don't know what happened."

"It's simple. You and I are sharing an empathetic space, based on our history. I said something that triggered your fears and he arrived. This environment is a mental one, Harry. You must take care not to let your emotions get the better of you. Your feelings can produce effects in the physical world, where we are being watched."

Harry knew the answer to something then. Those photos of himself on the bathroom floor had pissed him off, but now he knew the reason behind it all. The subconscious mind never sleeps, it keeps one's automatic nervous system going, the heart beating and so forth. There was a part of everyone that never slept, that remembered every dream, that knew a wealth of incalculable information that the conscious mind could not fathom, at all times. A part of himself knew exactly what he had suffered during that missing time, and it blamed Lucius. His feelings of disgust led him to that wizard and held him responsible, even though his conscious mind had been asleep.

Harry could only look down on his unconscious body, laid out in his underwear, as Tally snapped pictures for all the world to see. He choked on rage.

Snape shook him, nearly lifting him off his feet. "For God's sake Harry, stop it or you'll have something much worse come through that door."

Harry tried, but the flood of emotion was so powerful, he fought to push it back. Lucius had to die.

In this shared space, Snape told him, "I know he hurt you, but if you keep going after him, you'll lose your daughter. You can't keep letting him have so much power over you, that you lose a life with her."

"I can't forgive him!" Harry shouted.

Snape took his shoulders and held him firmly. "I promise you, if you concentrate on getting out of here, you'll never have to worry about him again. I'll fix the matter myself."

"You can't kill him. He won't die. He has some kind of bloodline magic that just keeps holding him intact."

"I know that bastard is made of rubber. Smash him and he comes back together. Don't worry. Death is too kind for him. It's a release. I have something more suitable in mind. More enduring."

Harry wanted to believe him, but nothing could get past the pain.

"Your family is waiting on you. For once, choose them and let the battle go. Lucius is nothing more than an amalgamation of all that traps you in a prison of humiliation and anger. This is your test. I've seen you withstand the cruciatus, I've seen you withstand the ridicule of your peers and fight a demon until you chased it back to hell. Not even I succeeded in that. Why can't you give up this misery with Lucius and live with Draco in the paradise that life affords you? Your war is supposed to be over."

That was a good question and Harry's tears spilled over when he didn't know how to answer it. The two of them stood in the mire of Harry's dilemma and Snape pulled him against himself, as if he could help Harry bear the weight.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I didn't protect you," he confessed. "I was too busy and too obsessed with a war of my own."

This released such heated emotion in Harry that he clung to Snape, biting down on an avalanche that wanted to rip him apart. This was not the time or place to lose it, so he shook as he pressed it all back down inside himself, clocking this moment. Clocking the fact that Snape was holding him, accepting him, showing him tenderness, a thing so unlikely, that Harry couldn't help but treasure it.

"I hope that you break this generational curse."

That reminded Harry of Snape's testimony. He pulled back, looking up into that shadowy face. "You have to tell me the truth. I get that you were willing to say the most absurd things at the trial, and I can't even make sense of it all. Anything to take the attention off of me and Draco. But did you have to go that far? Did you have to bring my parents into it? Apparently you haven't let go of certain memories. You haven't forgiven and I don't blame you. But what's true? What's fiction? What my dad did to you, was that even real? Or just the fear that comes with this curse? I mean, women have to worry about that, don't they? What I saw in the portrait, was that just your amalgamation?"

Snape released him, letting his arms come down. "Perhaps. I am not a victim, I volunteered to be hunted so that I could slaughter my hunters. No one has to worry about that until they become obsessed with it. A person's armor is in their mind, male or female. Anyone can be over powered and humiliated if they fear it so much that they attract it. If you've a mind to engage in what fulfills you, you will have no time for such worries."

His voice trailed off, leaving Harry to think that he wanted to say something more.

"Less than eight hours, Harry," he said. "That's all we have and much has to be accomplished. We've no time for this. Your daughter's life is at stake."

Harry clenched his teeth and spoke through tight lips. "I don't need reminding that I'm a shit father, okay? I'm trying to pick myself up because it's not about me anymore. It's about her. I know that."

Snape fell silent and let Harry listen to the sound of his own tantrum ringing in his ears.

"I'm sorry. What do we do?" He mentally kicked himself.

"The plan is to divert their attention. While the queen sees us busy restoring her temple, a rescue team comprised of wizards, aurors, soldiers and other agents are waiting on a signal from us. If we can provide that signal, we have been successful in gaining the queen's trust. If we can't, the mission has failed. Those discs the guards carry, amplify the queen's influence over our magic. They can act as sonic weapons and barriers, which is why they surround her with them. Their bodies do the same thing, but the discs focus the ability into technology that exceeds what their bodies are capable of without them.

"When we have gained their trust by restoring function to them, we must get the queen to dial down the acoustic barriers emitted by the discs. This will allow us to apparate out of here, but even then we won't be safe. With the temple fully functioning and your magic running loose, the rebels are certain to hone in on us again. They can do so instantaneously. When they do, it will be a full on attack, we must be ready to go with Iece in hand. We will have no time to smooth things over with the queen, no time to wait to see if she keeps her promises. Actually, she won't be able to."

"Why not?"

"I'll tell you later. Know that any attempt to apparate can be thwarted by wizards who are working with the rebel faction. They'll trail us with an assault. They still want to kill you for helping the queen and to prevent your magic from making their worst fears come true. Remember, you are helping the queen to retain her mental connection to them. They want to be free. This is their civil war and we cannot solve their problem. All you can do is what you must in order to free your child. So when we apparate, we will be under the protection of an escort, lest the rebels give chase. We will have to jump within an apparation to another, and yet another almost simultaneously, in hopes of losing those who can follow. A protocol has been set up.

"We will be flying blind for some seconds, as we must put ourselves in the hands of wizards working with the British Secret Service, to place us in the most undetectable spot on this planet. The Ministry has enlisted the help of wizards who excel in speed and stealth, so you shouldn't have to use your magic in any defense capacity at that time. You're to do as instructed, follow and switch directions when ordered to do so. An underground reception awaits. We will land in tunnels under the city of Montpelier Paris.

"Iece's condition will be an issue. She will not hold up well under the stress of successive jumps, so if she needs to be driven or medical assistance, the vehicle awaiting us will be equipped with medical staff. You and she must separate, as they'll still be hunting you. Draco will be waiting for you in tunnels. There will be no time to talk. You're to give her to him. He'll be dressed as a member of emergency medical staff, and accompanied by agents from the Ministry and the CIUM. The rebels have people inside the city offices on their payroll and they'll be surveying all infrastructure, sky and highways, for suspicious activity. If the medical unit is stopped, Draco's team will be prepared to ditch the vehicle and apparate to one of the armored cars escorting them. They will stay in a bunker in Paris until it's safe to go to America.

"You will be located in another facility in Scotland. You will not be able to contact Draco until communication is cleared by the CIUM. That is, until all the rebel factions are arrested or subdued. We don't know how this will end, so it could be some time before you're able to join Draco in America. He and Iece will live under the protection of the Ministry until things are safe. When you hand her over to him, you must trust that plan. To join them, would be to put them in danger all over again."

Harry felt nauseous, but steeled his nerves. Thank God, he wasn't alone and all this help had come to him. "Okay, so we gain the queen's trust by making progress. We get this temple system working again, even if it's not perfect and I demand to hold Iece. While I have her, you give some sort of signal?"

"When you have Iece, I have a hidden connection to Ministry headquarters. I will alert auror authorities to initiate the rescue sequence I just described."

"How are we going to get the temple working again? You said you knew how."

"We can jump start it, we can't keep it running indefinitely. We'd need an inexhaustible amount of magic for that. I am going to request an outside source and material to modify the structure of those growths. One that will sustain magic and allow you to leave."

"What material?"

"There are a number of composite materials, hybrid synthetics of muggle and wizarding technology that can conduct magic better than the natural stone found in this place. The trick will be convincing her to allow me to leave long enough to arrange it and come back."

Harry thought for a second. "Your mother gave me something in that portrait. A bottle."

He didn't see Snape's eyes narrow.

"I think it's her magic or something special. It's like she wanted me to have extra." Maybe you could stop by my place and get it. It's gotta be magic. I think she meant for it to help with the curse somehow. If not a cure, then something to control the symptoms. I don't need it now. She showed me how to manipulate my magic, my body, with something called a Wheel of Life. We all have them and they store every experience we've ever had in a kind of hieroglyphic code. A magical written language. I reset my shoulder after your younger self attacked me."

Snape listened, making no move to interrupt Harry.

"I think if I learn more, I can control this curse or nullify it somehow. If I can do that, I can fix Draco. We won't need any extra magic. Use your mother's gift to see if you can get us out of here."

Harry told him exactly where it was. When they had discussed all that Snape felt it was safe to risk telling him, they let that hidden classroom dissolve around them and found themselves back under the covers.

Snape rose on his arm and supported himself. "Interesting. My mother spirited a concentration of her magic to you. How fitting." His tone was dry and serious. "Her cauldron was her body and now a queen with a giant womb for a temple, has need of fertility assistance."

"That's even better. Right? If you got your hands on it, maybe it could sustain this place a lot longer than I could."

"Perhaps. I must now think of my excuse to the queen, for leaving and returning. I will either be escorted or watched, or both. Rest. Let me plan my route. When I return, we cannot delay. You think of a way to persuade them to let you hold your daughter. The queen will be resistant, wanting to wait until time proves that our work can endure on its own. We don't have that kind of time. I will require you to run your magic wide open. For that, you should rest for at least two hours to recoup what you can of your physical and magical expenditures for the last few days. Hopefully, your body will reset itself now that it has a reason to. Try to sleep. I'll wake you."

Not two seconds later, he heard Snape say tentatively, "Harry, you and Iece are both wearing a charm. What is it?"

Harry reached into his collar and pulled out the talisman. "This?"

Snape's wand went into scan mode. Harry told him how Thella made both talismans when he was searching for Snape, and that he thought they were sentimental, without any real power, at best.

"She said my parents, and all my family could protect me through it. I can't exactly disprove her, I'm still alive. But it's no Elder Wand," he laughed lightly, with heaviness in his heart. "It didn't stop my baby from getting taken."

Snape's blunt fingers, nails as clean and rounded as an impeccable surgeon's, took hold of the salt and flour concoction. Harry felt the string around his neck pull as Snape lifted it for a closer inspection. His breaths touched Harry, who told himself that it was no big deal as he endured Snape's close study.

"This is old voodoo," Snape concluded. "It crosses your life-force with that of your blood-line's intention for all who share it. It does shield you and perhaps aided your daughter's survival. If anything could've gone worse for her or yourself, it would've. I would like a third talisman to complete the reproductive formation that your magic, the cave structure, the curse, and the queen's adjoined bloodline, represents. All of this magic is layered. This thing might be exactly what our constructed circuit needs to sustain your magic."

He appeared to be discussing the matter with himself, as if talking his way through his own speculation. Harry listened, not knowing enough to contribute, and trying not to breathe beneath Snape's raised body. It was awkward, but if this is what it took to get the hell out of here, then he wasn't going to utter one complaint where Snape was concerned. Not even to himself. Snape finally let go of the talisman and insisted once more that Harry sleep.

Harry agreed, nodding. He saw Snape lay back and close his eyes and realized that he'd never seen his professor in a state of repose, however stressed, and it looked kinda neat. Odd, but neat. He'd never seen Snape without anything but an air that was three steps away from menacing on his best days. Now Harry could see, and plainly sense, that Snape must've been jumping through hoops for weeks, to get to this point and would continue to do so for an unforeseeable amount of time.

Exhaustion eclipsed their sense of urgency for the moment and Harry remained awake, amazed that he was watching Snape sleep. He wasn't really asleep. Neither of them had the peace of mind to drift that deeply, but the wizard needed rest. Weariness, never seen on Snape's face before, now stood around the tension in his brow and dark hairs around his temple. Harry's struggles to find Snape, to be here beside him, with all of this devoted loyalty, was worth every ounce of reverence and respect he felt to lay here beside him.

Just then, Harry wished he could say something more about Snape standing up for him in court and the whole thing with his father. But that story was so jumbled with convoluted details that if nothing else, Harry knew that the truth must've been so horrible that Snape was willing to concoct something that would lead everyone astray. As long as no one could ascertain the truth, no one could see his suffering in all of this.

He took comfort in his own conclusions, without asking what they were based upon exactly. Beside him, without opening his eyes, Snape said, "Stop it. Shield your mind."

Shocked, Harry asked, "If we're still connected mentally, why should I?"

"Because she can feel it. Not read it, but follow the pictures and the tones coming from it. Hold your child prominent in your thoughts. This will make any thoughts of your rescue and escape more acceptable to her. It's only logical that you would want to get out of here. But she can't know what is your imagined hopes and what is the real plan. Shield your mind."

Harry accepted this advice, still amazed that Snape was so attuned to him. Like they were in sync somehow. He'd always wanted to matter to this brave man, and now he mattered to him so much that they practically shared a kind of dream space and communicated damn near telepathically. A secret thrill ran through him, though he knew this wasn't the place or time. He was so relieved to have Snape here with him, his anger at the kidnapping was slipping away and that was very wrong of him, he knew. However, Snape's mere presence insisted that he no longer had anything to worry about. The ordeal was practically over.

Out of sheer gratefulness, Harry wanted to reach out and take the hand lying next to his. Would Snape understand? Would he pull away, all insulted and manly like? Or would he simply see that Harry's touch was a way of comforting himself. Of reassuring himself.

"Harry. Stop it."

"Right. Sorry."