Asylum

A special thanks to my beta, Saeadame.

Asylum

Chapter 12

"AAAHH."

Severus shot out of his bed at the scream. It took him a moment or two to figure out where he was, and then another to remember that he now had a housemate.

"AAAHH."

Severus ran out of the room, wand in hand, as another scream filled the air. He burst into Harry's room, looking around for any danger before seeing the boy struggling with the sheets.

He sighed. Just nightmares then.

He pocketed his wand and calmly walked over to the bed. He grabbed the slim, but muscled, arms in attempt to wake the troubled sleeper, and unfortunately became victim to a slap in the face as the boy turned away, face scrunched up in pain.

Severus grabbed his nose. 'Well that hurt. Looks like I have to get a little rough.' Severus crawled on the bed and placed his legs on either side of the struggling teen. He grabbed the flailing arms, making sure to keep them out of smacking range. He shook him.

"Harry." Another firm shake. "Harry." The boy whimpered. "HARRY."

Harry whipped up from the bed, effectively striking Snape in the face for the second time that night, this time with his hard head.

"Damn it." Severus said as he grabbed his nose. The child must be determined to break the damned thing.

Harry's eyes snapped back and forth in obvious terror. He whimpered again at the look on Snape's face, curling himself into a ball. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." His voice unusually high.

Snape rolled his eyes towards the heavens. "Why me?" He murmured. Now he has to deal with a child-like Harry. "Sshh, child. It's okay, I'm not angry." He reached a hand out to stroke the boy's hair, when Harry tensed and squeezed his eyes shut, obviously expecting to be hit regardless of Severus' assurances.

His eyes however snapped open with a look of confusion when Severus merely stroked his head.

"Are you okay, I heard you screaming?" Severus asked, voice soft afraid to scare Harry even more.

Harry shook his head, eyes glazing over in tears. "I had a bad dream." Harry said.

Severus adjusted himself so he sat against the headboard of the bed before pulling the man-child into his lap, still stroking his hair. "Oh, and what was this bad dream about?" He cringed at the wording.

"The pretty man with mean eyes." Harry whispered as he snuggled into Severus's chest.

Severus tensed. "Pretty man with mean eyes? What does he look like?" He asked, fearing the answer.

Harry thought the question over. "He's older than me, but younger than you. He has short black hair and is very pale. His eyes are scary; they're red and look like they belong to a cat."

Severus closed his eyes. Voldemort. He was dreaming about Voldemort, and it had to be current, as Voldemort certainly wasn't 'pretty' during the first war, his dark magic twisting him to look like a snake. He was much more careful this time, realizing that he attracted more followers looking more like a human than a monster.

"And what was the bad man doing, Harry? Was there other people there?"

He felt Harry nod against his chest. "Men in black. They were all bowing, except one who was screaming on the floor." Harry shuddered. "He hurt so much."

Severus's eyes narrowed. "How do you know he was hurt?"

Harry looked up his eyes glowing eerily. "Because it hurt so much."

"You could feel his pain?" He asked skeptically.

Harry nodded slowly, eyes intense. "Yes." He whispered.

"And the bad man? Can you feel him to?" Now he too was afraid of the answer.

"I always do. It burns. He was not happy." He shuddered, curling himself even further into Severus's lap.

Severus was about to ask what he meant when he saw Harry's scar, it was completely red with a little blood coming from the end.

"You've had these dreams before?"

He felt a faint nod, knowing the boy was tired from all his struggling.

Severus rubbed his back and then lightly kissed his scar as if to sooth its pain. "Sleep, Harry. We can talk more in the morning." He made a move off the bed when a hand darted out to grab his own.

"Stay with me." Harry whispered.

Severus hesitated for a moment before crawling back up onto the bed; Harry once again snuggled into the warm chest as Severus wound his arms around his torso. "Night, Sev." He slurred, already half asleep.

"Goodnight, Harry."


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A/N: Whew. Finals are over. That means working more for me. Bleh…don’t want to work. Maybe if I win the lottery I can quit my job and write all the time! Although, I doubt that will ever happen. Oh well, I can dream. I also seem to be suffering from some writer’s block. I had hoped it would never happen to me, but it appears I’m not that lucky. I refuse to put a story on hiatus, but chapters may be slow in coming until I can overcome it. I know I need some action somewhat soon though.

I’d like to thank reviewers:
Dark Illusions, LordThingy69, cally, Aka_No_Marduk, kneeya, Midnight Fairy, ash, landra, shadowama, sparkleh, Bones, Nigellica, poohbear74, lilpotter, and Nusku.

Please review!