The beginning of this chapter gave me a stubborn fight, but I got it down.

Theo's every nerve burned. He had heard many gruesome tales of the torture curse, but had never expected to be on the receiving end. Or the casting end, if he could help it.

His father had gone on in detail, about the unforgivable curses, waxing on about the power and conviction needed to cast any of them, insisting that someday he would teach Theo how to do it. Theo hadn't wanted to then, he definatly didn't want to now.

When Quirrell- no. When the Dark Lord, had said the incantation, Theo had prepared himself for pain, but there was no way to prepare for that kind of pain. It was indescribable, and terrifying. He was glad, and lucky, the teachers had come when they did.

Now he lay in the hospital wing, his entire body aching.

He could hear Madam Pomfrey speaking to someone near the door, though he couldn't see either of them past the curtains around his bed.

"Fine!" Madam Pomfrey said at last, sounding stern, but not unkind, "ten minutes only. Then you both need to rest."

Theo wondered who she was talking to. He didn't wait long before the curtain opened long enough to admit Harry.

He looked horrible, Theo noted. His face was pale, his eyes looked red, and his hair was in a worse tousle than usual. His hands were shaking as well. Something had upset him, Theo didn't think the teachers had told anyone what had happened to him, but maybe Harry had overheard something.

This seemed proven true, when Harry climbed on the hospital bed to hug him, holding him tightly, but gently.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Which confused Theo. Harry didn't have anything to do with what had happened. Why was he apologizing?

Moving his arms felt like fire was melting his veins, even with the pain potion Pomfrey had given him before, but he returned Harry's hug. Not quite ready to try talking through his sore throat, he tried to put everything he couldn't say into the embrace, glad his best friend was here.

Theo heard the curtain shifting again. Looking up, he saw Hermione slip into the enclosed space the movable barrier created.

"I heard the prefects talking. Are you alright?" She asked softly, stepping closer.

Despite feeling like boiled cabbage, doused in hot sauce and lava, Theo nodded, as Harry pulled away, tears sliding down his face.

"I'm sorry." He said again.

Theo shook his head, pulling the sleeve of his pajama shirt over his fingers and gently wiping away Harry's tears.

"What do you have to be sorry for, Harry?" Hermione asked gently, coming around the other side of the bed, and sitting down on the edge, so she and Harry sat on either side of Theo.

"I-I... I saw it happen." He said quietly, looking at Theo, who stilled in surprise and concern.

Why had Harry been there?

"I was in the common room," His eyes dropped to his lap, where his fingers twisted around themselves in nervous knots, his voice barely audible.

"My scar started hurting, and suddenly I was there. Watching him- I-I-..."

He was crying again, Theo felt his stomach drop as he watched Harry begin to curl in on himself, his right hand tracing an odd pattern on his arm, as if feeling for something through his sleeves.

"It's like I was him."

Harry's voice was less than a whisper, his feelings on the... whatever it had been, clear in the glassy stare he held with the floor.

"No Harry!" Hermione said gently, but firmly.

"Whatever happened, you had nothing to do with it! You said you were in your common room, so you couldn't have had anything to do with it! You only saw it!"

"She's right Harry."

Theo's voice sounded ancient and unused, though it was quite the opposite. It had been overused in an uncontrollable scream as every-

Theo shoved that thought away. He would have plenty of time to further reflect on what happened later, his friend needed him now.

"You weren't really there. You weren't-" his voice broke, and he grimaced in pain, but kept speaking, going slowly instead of stopping, "you weren't the one wh-who cast the cur-curse... if an-any-y-th-ing, yo-you, s-save-ved me."

Theo stifled a cough in his sleeve, ignoring the wet feeling in the back of his throat.

Harry was looking in his direction, though he wouldn't meet Theo's eye. Hermione had a hand on his shoulder, offering support and comfort without crowding him.

"If you had-hadn't t-told Snape," Theo shuddered and coughed, a metallic taste coating his tongue, "I might not've ma-made it."

Theo could feel something thick and tacky bubbling over his tongue, a few drops slid past his lips and down his chin, but he ignored it. Instead, Theo gently grabbed Harry's wrist, and pulled him into a hug. Hermione hugged them both, and the trio were silent as they comforted one another, letting their presence together speak in place of words they couldn't quite conjugate.

It was well past ten minutes, when Madam Pomfrey finally came to insist Harry and Theo rest, shooing Hermione out the door.

Theo was glad the matron at least let Harry take the bed next to Theo's, so they could see each other as the Dreamless Sleep potions she gave them lulled both boys to sleep.

}-{|>

Hermione cried silently that night, her tears soaking through her hair as she looked up at the ceiling. The other girls in her dorm were all sound asleep, but she couldn't settle her racing thoughts long enough to find the blissful peace of dreams.

Theo had been attacked. Someone had hurt him, had almost killed him! And somehow Harry had seen it. Her friends had been hurt and she couldn't do anything about it.

She felt like a horrible friend. The logical part of her knew, that with them being in different houses there was no way she could've known any sooner. Especially since the teachers were being tight lipped about the whole incident, and the prefects only knew that Theo ended up in the hospital wing, though not by name. She hadn't known what had happened until she heard Harry and Theo talking. It made her sick to her stomach.

Hogwarts was meant to be safe, yet someone had attacked a student. Not in a petty prank, but to hurt, and didn't care if they killed. If her parents knew, they would surely be afraid, maybe even consider taking her away from Hogwarts, and magic. It had been hard to talk them into letting her come in the first place. When she had excitedly told them about what she'd read in her new books, they had become concerned at the idea that dangerous wizards might still be at large. It had taken a while to calm them from that, but she had managed.

Hermione didn't want to leave Hogwarts, or her new friends. She would just have to work harder, not just with her homework, but with casting the spells she read about, until she could defend herself, and her friends.

She felt something in her chest settle, as she strengthened her resolve. She would get better. She would get stronger. And someday, no one would hurt her friends.

With that thought, Hermione finally drifted off to sleep.

}-{|>

Severus sank slowly into his armchair in his personal quarters. The last several hours had drained him, and he wanted nothing more then to sink into a blissfulness brought by a dreamless sleep potion. Unfortunately, he still had essays to finish marking. The Dark Lord possessing a teacher, and almost killing a student on his path to returning to power and gaining immortality, did not give Severus a pass on suffering through the idiocy of teenagers.

He had been halfway through one of his third year classes, unfortunately consisting of Ravenclaws and Griffindors, so they alternated between incessantly dull, and overly expressed. He had almost been thankful for the interruption, until Creevers had told him Harry had collapsed in a very sudden bought of agony.

Any student collapsing for no reason would be worrisome, but the fact Harry had apparently witnessed Nott being tortured by the possessed Quirrell...

Severus shivered as he remembered the jolt of pain that had lanced through his Dark Mark when he had crouched beside Potter. Something that only happened when the Dark Lord summoned him, or was very angry.

That it had happened as soon as he approached Harry...

There was something going on in the shadows, something Dumbledore definatly knew about, or at least suspected. There was no magic Severus knew of that allowed someone to see what was happening elsewhere, not without some sort of connecting factor, as with the flu network. And if there was such a spell, students, especially a first year, certainly wouldn't know it.

The fact his Dark Mark had burned made it obvious that it was something to do with the Dark Lord. Why he would want Harry to know about what he was doing in the castle dungeon, Severus couldn't think of, but the thought didn't sit with him. If the Dark Lord was strong enough to cast a spell that would undoubtedly be complex, why Harry? Why split his focus between trying to get the stone, and showing Harry what he was doing?

Had he wanted to lure Harry to him, to finish him off, or worse? Or was the Dark Lord unaware of Harry witnessing it?

The thought made him shudder. What he had heard that night, nearly twelve years ago, whispered in the back of his mind, a fragment of a prophecy he cursed the very existence of; and he shall have power the Dark Lord knows not.

He firmly pushed that thought away. Dumbledore knew, or had an idea, about it all, and Severus knew there was nothing that would make Dumbledore share his thoughts on the subject unless he chose to. He would just have to keep a close eye on Harry, and pray they had a few more years before the Dark Lord found a way to return.

Severus sighed softly, as he pulled the unmarked essays towards him. The top one was one of the Weasley twins'. He could feel a headache already.

The end of the chapter may seem a bit off, it's because I had it a different way, but then realized there is magic like that, so I had to adjust, and I'm not sure how well it worked.

As I started writing the next chapter, I realized how close we are to what will have to be the end. There really isn't anything left to wrap up, 'less I forgot something.

If I did...

Oh well.

I might not post next week, as I'm still trying to write the next chapter, but I will post it as soon as I can.

Hope you enjoyed!

Bakeku67