Chapter 6

Severus led Harry up to the Great Hall that evening for supper. They parted ways as Severus headed up to the Staff Table and Harry hurried to his usual seat between Ron and Dean. He was greeted with wary glances from his yearmates.

"Hey, mate. You missed lunch," Ron finally said after a rather long silence.

"Yeah, we were kind of worried, especially since your stuff vanished from the dorm," Dean added. "What�s going on?"

Harry took a deep breath. Well, now was as good a time as any� "Um, yeah. Sorry about that. I wanted to come talk to you sooner, but I was kept kind of busy�moving into my new room." This earned him several shocked looks.

"New room?! What, did they make you Head Boy or something?" Seamus said. Harry sighed deeply.

"Erm�no. Nothing like that," Harry said, then looked down at his hands.

"Then why�d they move you out?" Lavender asked from the other side of Dean.

"Yeah, how come you get a whole room all to yourself?" Parvati, who was sitting across from Harry, added.

"Uh, well�you see�" Harry cleared his throat nervously. "I�m not actually living alone," he finally confessed. Eyes widened all around him. "I�ve actually been moved in with�er�" He trailed off uncertainly. Perhaps telling them this in the Great Hall wouldn�t be such a good idea. He really didn�t want to cause an uproar.

"You�ve moved into Snape�s rooms, haven�t you?" Hermione finally spoke up, albeit quietly, from Ron�s other side. All eyes turned to stare at her briefly before moving back to a very nervous-looking Harry.

Harry gulped. "Um, yeah," he admitted, causing poor Neville to nearly faint as the others just stared at him with mixed expressions of shock and horror on their faces.

Ron finally found his voice. "Merlin, Harry, what are they trying to do to you?" He patted his best friend on the shoulder, trying to be comforting. "I guess Dumbledore has finally gone out of his mind," he added for good measure.

Hermione let out a long-suffering sigh. "Ron, I�m sure that there must be a very good reason why they would move a student into a teacher�s quarters, especially when it comes to Harry and Snape."

Harry sighed. "Well�they had their reasons, I guess," he said evasively. He was seriously starting to regret ever leaving the dungeons.

Hermione looked over at Harry, hurt evident in her eyes. "Yes, I�m sure they had their�reasons," she echoed. Harry blinked back at her. Well, she certainly was acting strange. He considered for a moment if she knew�Harry�s appetite suddenly vanished.

"Well, I think I�d better get going," he said, standing up. Ron gave him an odd look.

"But Harry, supper hasn�t even started yet�" he trailed off.

"Yes, well, I�m really not all that hungry. I�m actually quite tired, so I think I�ll go take a nap," Harry replied, and hastily retreated. Hermione looked at Ron.

"Something is very wrong," she stated.

"�You think we should go check on him?" Ron asked.

Hermione thought for a moment then shook her head. "No," she said, then muttered bitterly to herself, "I think he�ll be fine without us."

Harry started on his way down to the dungeons. He knew he probably shouldn�t have just left like that. He knew his friends deserved an explanation. He, however, couldn�t work up the nerve to give them one, especially after seeing that look in Hermione�s eyes. How could he explain to them why he�did what he did? How could they possibly understand?

"Mr. Potter?" a silky baritone came from behind him. He spun around to see Snape standing in front of the doors to the Great Hall. "Where do you think you�re going?"

"Away from there," Harry replied, waving a hand at the doors he had just exited. "I can�t handle being in there right now."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

Harry sighed in exasperation. "With all due respect, Professor Snape, I�m really not up for playing �Question and Answer� right now," he said, then turned and began walking toward the dungeons.

"Potter, wait," Snape called after him. Harry turned around, annoyance playing on his features. He just wanted to go lie down and collect his thoughts in peace; was that too much to ask?

Apparently it was, as Snape strode up to him. "I�m coming with you," the man said simply.

Suppressing a growl, Harry spun on his heel and led the way down to the dungeons.

Harry couldn�t sleep. He�d spent the past three and a half hours lying in his bed, desperately trying to let sleep take him. Now his watch read one-thirty in the morning, and all he had were the memories of �that day�, as Harry had taken to calling it. Memories, ones he really would rather not have, continued running through his mind, tormenting him. He could remember the exact moment Ginny was killed, her expression of terror burned permanently into his memory. He remembered Blaise Zabini, in a strangely Gryffindor act for a Slytherin, jump in front of a young Hufflepuff in hopes of protecting her from Lucius Malfoy�s curse. He�d managed to save her, but at the cost of his own sanity. Now he was locked up in St. Mungo�s, probably for the rest of his life. He remembered Colin trying to save his younger brother. Macnair got them both. The most painful, though, was the memory of Remus Lupin grabbing hold of Wormtail as the traitor aimed his wand at Harry, only to have the spell misfire and hit Remus instead. He could still remember Sirius�s horrified screaming over the loss of his lover.

Harry�s sobs carried throughout Severus�s quarters, causing the older man to flinch at the sound. It wasn�t as though Harry had woken him up with his crying; the man rarely got to sleep before three in the morning anyway. What bothered him was that he really didn�t know what to do about it. It wasn�t as though he had a great deal of expertise in the comforting department � quite the opposite, really. Besides, Severus had a feeling that no amount of comforting could help Harry anyway; at least, not if he was crying for the same reason that Severus could no longer get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Very little could be done for someone plagued by their own memories and conscience. Sighing, Severus turned on his side and listened as Harry cried himself to sleep.