'What have you done to me Harmony?' Severus Snape insisted not for the first time that afternoon.

After cleaning up the side table of all the mess done by Severus magic, Harmony had gone to study on the kitchen table some of the volumes she had gathered in the library. Severus on the other hand could not shake the feeling that something was off. He had felt how her touch had restarted his magic. There was no denying it, even if she had tried to. Who was that woman? Until that moment he had found no reasons to worry about who she might be but in the present circumstances he had to know. No matter how much nagging he would need to achieve that.

Probably perceiving it, Harmony sighed and closed the volume in front of her, turning to face him.

"I tried a little something my mother taught me some years ago." The witch started, looking serious. " She defended in one of our lessons that nothing born with magic can just lose it forever. Not unless something seriously wrong happens. All things measured, what happened to you was a great trauma but not necessarily something strong enough to kill your magic."

'Then... What happened to it all this time, witch?' Severus blurted out, clearly uneasy with the whole thing. He had been the one left defenseless for all those months at the hands of animals. He wanted much needed answers.

"You have to understand that my answer may not be one hundred percent accurate but my best guess is that the psychological shock made it dormant. Unless rekindled, which I did, it could have kept that way for God knows how long." Harmony suggested deep in thought.

Suddenly it was all too much for Severus. He felt dizzy from what he had just heard from that witch. She made it look so damn simple when he had needed to go through hell with the one thing that had always defined him as a person gone: His magic.

"Severus? Dear?! Hey Severus! Are you feeling alright?" Her voice sounded distant and he remotely felt her hands reaching to touch him. Then everything went black.

Harmony was left with Severus' body convulsing on the couch as he blacked out.

His body felt so heavy...

Slowly Severus regained consciousness. His mind was... All over the place, if he had to be honest. He felt so tired.

'Dear? Can you hear my voice?' He could hear the witch pleading within his mind.

'Harmony? Why do I feel like I just dropped from my broom, from several meters up in the sky?' He wondered sluggishly.

'You gave me quite a scare, Severus. You just went out like a flame. I was worried sick for you.'

'I'm sorry. I just feel so tired...' His eyes felt heavy even closed. His mind felt clouded.

'Rest then my dear. You're safe. I will be here when you decide to wake up.'

'Where are we?'

'In our room. I moved you to the bed so you would be more comfortable. Rest now, we will be here for you.' Harmony reassured the dark wizard, feeling that he needed it in that particular moment.

With that last assurance he let his consciousness fall apart once more and everything went black.

The sun was shining outside the window and Severus heard a barking in the distance. He smiled in his pillow at that. It felt so familiar by now. Rufus must have been left out to wander the fields and the forest. He heard the familiar footsteps of Harmony entering the room shoeless.

'You could catch your death like that my dear.' He warned her jokingly, his eyes still closed.

'Welcome back Severus. And I know that I may probably but I was trying to keep quiet.' Her voice came to his mind with a warmth sensation as she lay down with him on the bed again.

'Rufus took care of that. But I was already half conscious, don't fret.' He would never want for her to hold a grudge against the familiar for no reason.

'You feel very relaxed right now don't you?'

'Actually yes. But... Also a bit sore I will recognise. I had a convulsion?' He already knew the answer. The experience of years was enough for him to recognize the feeling.

'You did. Do you know why you have these?' The younger witch questioned for the first time. She hadn't asked yet, since they had been able to communicate.

'Unfortunately yes. I suffered too many successive Cruciatus curses to not expect the retribution. I had these even before the Snake.' Severus confessed, clearly dissatisfied with the fact.

'That's unfortunate.'

'Yes. But these I had learned to manage before I got bedridden. The fact that I cannot manage them myself right now makes them more... Hard to deal with, if I may say so.'

'How did you manage them before?' Harmony asked curiously.

'I had a potion which retarded the convulsion in the case that I was in public when I felt the signs of one. The only time it didn't help was once on a death eaters encounter. Only because I was submitted to more Cruciatus on top of it. I don't remember getting back to Hogwarts after that but Lucius told me several days after that he had managed to carry me to the gates and drop me there.'

'Then... You still had the convulsions all the same, you only retarded them.' Harmony followed his reasoning easily enough.

'Exactly. As a spy I couldn't be seen having one of those or else I would have become expendable very quickly.'

'I understand. I'm sorry you had to suffer through all of that alone, Severus.'

'I was used to it then. Now... I think you will spoil me in no time.'

'Would you prefer if I left you on your own devices?' She teased as she reached to stroke his cheek lightly.

'Never. Don't even think about it, please.' The thought alone left him frightened. He would never want to be all alone again if it depended on him.

She left out a soft laugh.

'Don't you worry. I would never be able to. I actually like to care for you, you know?'

'You are a weird woman.' The man declared, feeling her sincerity through the bond they shared. Even when they weren't speaking they always felt each other's feelings.

'Perhaps. But at least I'm a weird woman who likes to be in your company.'

'Could you... Could you turn me to the side, to face you?' He asked shyly.

She did it and only then did he open his eyes. Before him were two big green eyes staring back at him with nothing but care and friendship on them. She looked very pretty in the morning light.

'Thank you Severus. My brothers used to say I looked like a monster but perhaps years changed that.'

'Why do you always tend to hear my most embarrassing thoughts?' He blurted out, between feeling embarrassed and pleased somehow.

'I believe it is because they are more emotional than the others perhaps. The bond has a great emotional part on it.'

'But that's unfair for me because very rarely do I catch you having embarrassing thoughts.'

'I am already used to being careful. But perhaps I can lower my shields just a little bit for you. What do you say?'

'You would do that for me?'

'As a way to make things a little bit fairer? Why not? Use the legilimens on me.' She offered, seemingly at ease.

'Very well, if you really want to... Legilimens!'

Severus felt transported through times, different moments going through him. Then several scenes seemed to come to him and surround him.

He saw himself lying on the hospital bed. How miserable he had looked. How helpless. And he felt the same feelings Harmony had experienced. The anger. The need to save him, to care for him. The thirst for justice to be done. Then there was a scene almost foreign to Severus. It seemed to be what had happened the day before. He was convulsing on the couch, Harmony trying to keep him from hurting himself and murmuring curses for their bad luck. He could watch as she wrestled to have his body between her arms and occasionally kissed him softly on the forehead while murmuring in his ears that everything would be okay. He watched as she took him to the room, washed him carefully and covered him with the bed linens. She seemed frightened for sure.

Another scene got nearer him, swiftly replacing the more familiar ones. He was watching what he was certain was a childish version of Harmony. She sat on a chair by what he recognised to be the kitchen table. Before her were numerous books and he could glance at a woman in the background of the memory. That part looked fuzzy and he immediately knew she was occluding from him the person's face.

"Harmony dear, do you think magic can die?"

"I don't know mommy. Can it?" Younger Harmony replied to her mother's question, a frown in her tiny forehead.

"Some say that it can. However women from our family firmly believe that magic can never die. It can go to sleep, so to speak. And stay asleep for a long time. But once you give it a spark of your own magic it is like a fire. Nanna Morgana once found herself with no magic whatsoever. She thought that she had ended it somehow, not understanding what had happened. It was his companion who gave her the spark to restart her own magic. His magic became hers and they shared the first real bond in the family."

With those words everything around him started to disappear and he knew he was being pulled out of her mind. As Severus came back to the present he found that she was still looking at him but with a sad expression now.

'Harmony? What is wrong?' He tried to understand if he had hurt her while using legilimency on her.

Harmony took a deep breath, as if trying to regain some internal balance.

"I'm afraid I can't explain, Severus. Not… Not now at least." She offered as she moved away from him and stood up. In a moment she wasn't there anymore but her feelings however remained inside of Severus' chest. Her memories had hurt her. So deeply that it made the older wizard think of himself about Lily once.