In My Mind

Disclaimer: All character, save Duncan, belong to the lovely JK Rowling. They decided to come out and play today, and well...we are all having a bit of fun! No copyright infringement is intended. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?


A/N: For my lovely readers, were it not for you, I\'d definately not be sitting here writing and have the courage and confidence in myself to post it anywhere. You guys are my soul and salvation. =) *huggles each and every one of you*

Squall-sama: Duncan is rather like a mini-Sev, isn\'t he? LOL! I know it\'s probably not as soon as you\'d like, but here\'s a short chapter. I wanted to get something up just so people knew I was still writing on it. The next update, though, is going to depend on when I get my story \'Out of Nowhere\' finished. (The way it\'s progressing, hopefully, it won\'t be too long!!)

wanessa: Can you tell I\'m rather anal about my spelling and grammar? LOL! I\'ll even edit something if I find a mistake later. *suddenly loud alarms start going off, screaming \'DORK! NERD! GEEK!* LOL!! Updates are going to depend on my story \'Out of Nowhere\' until I get it finished, and as long as my computer doesn\'t decide it\'s such a good story it\'s going to eat it again, it shouldn\'t take too much longer. =) I have no idea where \'Dumblee\' came from, but I could see Snape getting exceedingly drunk and not being able to finish the old man\'s name. LOL!! And, yes, I\'ll always email any of my readers that leave their addys. It\'s the least I could do since they were so nice to review me!!

Arwen Rayne: I hate that you had to wait so long, but here it is!!

Kat: Thanks for the review! I wouldn\'t call wanting a backstory greedy at all. *grins* I\'ll be giving the story of their trust, including training and the final battle, all the way up to the beginning of the story as flashbacks and dreams. It\'ll be interesting, if nothing else. LOL!!

Jessica: Glad you like it Jessica!!

Shaddow: DAMMIT...Ok...I\'ll update. LOL!!

Shaddow: I\'ve actually already got the way he wakes up planned, but I won\'t give it away. Oh, and if you\'re looking for snogging and sex, it\'s coming in later chapters, promise!

severusdraco: thanks for the review, here\'s your update!!

Ryo: Here ya go!!!

darksoulbrighteyes: *blinks* I don\'t know that I\"d call it the best, but it\'s just something different that my muse began pestering me about. Hope you like the next chap!!

Papaya: I am definately still working on \'To Teach.\' Sadly, it\'s hit a bit of a roadblock, and I\'m having a hard time pushing through. :/ Ah well, I guess we all get writers block at some point, eh? *huggles Papaya* Glad you like the story!!

A. Austein: Thanks and I\'ll put you in my contacts!!

antipyro: Many thanks!! =D Believe it or not, there is a reason they can\'t feel each other. It\'ll come out in later chapters, though I\'m sure you can guess it. And this chapter is just a quick tease, but lots of improtant stuff comes out. I almost made Severus colorblind, just to make it intersting. LOL!

Remus\'s Girl: *sigh* I see Moony\'s taken. *sigh\'s again* LOL! Thanks for the review!!

ella: I\'m glad you found drunken Snape funny. It\'s very rare that I get a stroke of brilliance when it comes to humor. *grins* I had alot of fun writing that part!

moondancer: He just might come around, but then I suppose we\'ll have to wait and see. Can you see Snape as a doting father? *grins*

Zak & Ivan: My favorite reviewers!! *huggles both* It never fails to amaze me how the two of you can have a conversation with me via the review thingy. Don\'t worry, Zak, there will be lots of shagging and snogging in later chapters, maybe even a bit of seduction. *winks* And, as for the rest of the review, well, vulgarity is fine, shaven...parts...are even better, and if you\'re living in a dorm, you aren\'t as old as I am. *blinks* unless you\'re in grad school or something, then you might be. LOL! Thanks so much guys to the review. They always make my day. OH! Before I forget, since Zak is \'just the gay guy\', Ivan you can be \'Zak\'s other left hand\'...ok, so I suck when it comes to cute or catchy names...feel free to smack me. And one more thing...left handed people RULE! :P

ON WITH THE STORY!!

Severus made his way back to the infirmary and in no time found his way back to Harry’s door. He was greeted cheerfully by not only Harry but also young Duncan. The little boy walked between his fathers as they crossed the grounds in Harry’s mind. “Sev, I’m glad you could come back. I’ve been thinking, and there’s something Duncan and I feel like you need to see.”

Harry ruffled the little boy’s hair as he looked up at his father and grinned. “Actually, Duncan is the one that pointed it out to me. He’s a very observant little guy.”

Picking up the little boy, he continued. “I’m not sure if it will help you in any way, but we’ve found physical evidence of my connection to Voldemort. It actually runs through my sanctuary here.”

They walked in silence to the little stream that Severus and Harry had sat at the day before. A pretty little curved stone bridge appeared and they crossed it. The three walked along a path into the forest behind the stream and eventually came to a clearing. Duncan pointed upward to what should have been a clear blue sky. What they saw was not sky.

Above them and only above the clearing, there was an angry red thread with black braids flowing throughout it. Around that thread was a brilliant indigo thread interwoven with a very thin pink thread and a bright orange thread. As the red one pulsed, the colored one would wrap tighter around it effectively keeping it from expanding.

Severus stood there in awe of the sight. “This is the physical manifestation of your link with the Dark Lord?”

Harry shook his head solemnly. “Yes, it is, but I can’t figure out why I have three threads, of different colors, and he only has two.”

The little boy smirked at his dad. “I know.”

“You do?” Asked Severus skeptically.

Duncan shook his head slowly at his father and bit his lip in a very Harry-type manner as he pointed to himself, his dad, and finally Severus. The dark wizard furrowed his brow in thought. “You’re saying it’s the three of us?”

“Sev,” Harry said, “I think we have a place to start. When you go back, I want you to look into color correspondences. Duncan may be on to something.”

The two older wizards watched the red thread begin to pulse violently. Immediately, the colored thread began to squeeze it and it settled down. The trio walked slowly back to the manor house and Harry put Duncan down. The little boy hugged his legs and grinned impishly before running full tilt up the stairs.

“So, Sev, what do you think of him?”

Severus was lost in his own thoughts when Harry asked the question, but snapped to when he heard his name. He watched the little boy’s retreating figure climb the stairs and said, “I’m still not sure, Harry. The thought of a child of my own still perplexes me.”

With a roll of his eyes, Harry started toward the sitting room. He stretched out on the couch and rubbed his forehead. “Severus,” he said seriously, “when I get out of this, I need to know. I don’t care if you want to be with me, but I need to know if Duncan is going to know his father. That is something I would never, ever rob him of, but I need to know that you want to know him.”

“I…Harry, I just don’t know! You’ve known me for the past seven years and you know that children are the bane of my existence. Hell, I still don’t like you!”

“Maybe if you keep telling yourself that, you’ll eventually believe it, Sev, because I sure don’t. Duncan is a testament to that.”

Snape growled. “You are insufferable!” He screamed before storming out of the manor.

As he got to the door, Harry popped up beside him, startling him. “Don’t be a stranger, Sev,” he smirked knowing that the older man still had some things to work out.

As Severus rejoined the land of the living, he was met with a pair of twinkling blue eyes. He was still angry and growled at Albus. The old wizard just chuckled. “Anything new, my boy?”

“Yes there’s something new,” he snapped. “Call a meeting of the Order and I’ll relay the information there.”

Snape stormed out of the infirmary to brood in his dungeons. “Albus, what on earth was that?”

Dumbledore just grinned, “He’s angry, Poppy.”

The medi-witch threw him a questioning glance. “Angry? What do you mean?”

“He’s moved on to stage two of the five stages of acceptance: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. He’ll be fine, just three more stages to go!”

Poppy chuckled. “Albus, you are absolutely the most manipulative person I’ve ever met!”

Smiling benignly, he asked, “But what would you do without me?”

She just shook her head and bustled back into her office. At that exact same moment, Severus Snape slammed the door to his chambers opened and then slammed it closed. He picked up a small decorative cauldron and threw it into the wall, causing the stone to chip. He then picked up one of the only baubles he owned, a ceramic serpent with silver eyes posed with its mouth open and fangs ready to strike, and threw it violently into the hearth with a scream.

“Bloody fucking Potter. What could that impudent little bleeding heart Gryffindor see in me? He’s just like his bloody fucking father!”

Severus spent most of the next two hours systematically breaking things and ranting about ‘bloody noble fucking Gryffindor’s’. Finally, it was time for dinner, and he made his way to the great hall knowing that Albus would be expecting him to show up. When he did, Albus gave him a knowing smile to which he resisted the urge to counter with a rude hand gesture.

He did not speak to anyone at the table as he slowly ate his meal. He did not really taste anything, nor did he notice Weasley and Granger watching him. Severus’ thoughts were on the young man in the infirmary and the life he was carrying that was also partially Severus.

After dinner, he stalked to the schools library to find any books on colors and their correspondences. With two in hand (including the one in the restricted section) he made his way back to his quarters to pace and rant some more.

When he stepped through the floo at Grimmauld Place, he was met with five eager and expectant faces. “Is there any news?” Tonks asked.

“Yes,” Severus snapped, “he’s still in a coma, and we still don’t know what to do!”

Albus rose gracefully from his chair. “Now Severus, there’s no need to be so rude. He has discovered something new, and he wouldn’t tell even me.”

Severus threw the two books down on the table, and everyone looked up at him with the question evident on their face. “Oh for fuck’s sake! He found the physical manifestation of his link with the Dark Lord. It appears as though their life forces are intertwined with Potters wrapping securely around the Dark Lords and keeping it in check.”

“What are we supposed to be looking for in these particular books, Professor?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the dark wizard growled, “Miss Granger, for the brightest witch of the age you are acting rather thick. I was not finished. The Dark Lord’s ‘thread’, as your friend called it, is red and black. Potter’s is indigo or purple, pink, and orange.”

“What do you mean indigo or purple?”

“Ron, have you ever seen indigo next to purple? The only difference between the two is that indigo is a bit darker, more blue than true purple,” Hermione said matter of factly.

“Thank you for the art lesson Miss Granger, now that you are finished wasting our time, can we begin searching?”

Hermione blushed and then looked into her former professor’s face, “Actually, Sir, we need to know if what you saw was indigo or purple because in color correspondence, they can have different meanings.”

He sighed dramatically. “Look at both of them,” he snapped.

Hermione and Ron disappeared into the library at Grimmauld Place to begin looking. Tonks aparated to the Ministry of Magic to find a couple of the Unspeakables she knew in the department of mysteries. She hoped at least one would have a book or two on color correspondences in magical bonds. Remus sat patiently with Dumbledore and Severus, idly flipping through one of the books the dark man threw on the table.

Albus smiled at both men. The werewolf smiled politely back, and Severus growled. “Thank you my boy. Were it not for you, we’d still be at a loss as to where to begin. Harry isn’t the only one who appreciates your diligent work.”

Remus discovered a passage on the color orange and summoned a quill and parchment. He wrote:

Orange: Most often associated with reconciliation. Also associated with luck, guilt, blame, duality, authority, strength, and adaptability.

He put the quill down and flipped through a few more pages noting the parts of the body and mind the color was associated with. Severus looked at what he’d written and snatched the parchment up. His usually pallid face became pasty white as he realized what the color meant. He pushed the parchment in his robe pocket and practically ran out of the kitchen. The werewolf and Dumbledore heard the door slam and Albus’ eyes twinkled with mirth that made him look a mere hundred years old. “You know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“I am the all seeing Headmaster, aren’t I Remus?”

“What’s going on?” Remus asked curiously.

Dumbledore chuckled good naturedly. “You’ll see when it all ends.”

Remus shook his head and went back to perusing the book and scratching notes as he went. Ron and Hermione reappeared with several books and sat back down at the table. “I’m sure I’ve seen these colors somewhere together in color correspondence.” Hermione mumbled.