Through Darkened Halls

Searing agony lanced at his eyes and echoing in his ears was the laughter and taunts of his peers. Despite the pain he was currently in he didn't regret his change of allegiance, not one bit. He'd miss Hogwarts, annoying brats and all. He recognized the curse that caused the lingering pain in his eyes. With out his sight there was no way for him to teach and as a result he'll lose the only home he's every known. He mourned the loss of his only escapes from his lonely life. He'll miss his books and potions. He knew he'd never see again thanks to the son of a bitch he sold his soul to years ago. They'll be no where for him to go now that he could no longer teach the brats. That thought constantly ran through his head no matter what the previous thought was. He no longer had a home. The family manor was nothing more than a pile of rubble and the last house-elf died when he first began teaching. He didn't know what he was going to do.

He did his best to block out the rest of the noise surrounding him as they all took turns torturing him. He retreated into his mind and began planning his future, provided the bastard left him with one. Right this moment he was nothing but a mass of pain. So much so he couldn't identify what was the most critical of his injuries. The Dark Lord called them off finally and Severus allowed himself to pay attention to what was going on around him now. His voice gave out a long time ago and the Dark Lord didn't get as much enjoyment out of his favourite past time if the victim couldn't respond.

"Let this be a lesson to you all! Anyone who betrays me will suffer the same fate as this traitor." The Dark Lord hissed at his followers. Severus could just picture the gloating look on the worm's face. "As I promised, Severus, I've made you an example to everyone. I shall enjoy seeing what you do with yourself now." Voldemort chuckled cruelly and Severus could hear the bastard's robes rustling around him. He felt Voldemort's gaze leave him and suppressed the jump of surprise when his tormentor spoke to someone else in a loud voice. "You four return to Hogwarts before you're missed and dump this in the Forbidden Forest." A kick to his side emphasized that it was he that would be dumped.

"Yes, my Lord." The prompt reply was in Draco's distinctive drawl and Severus wondered which of his Slytherins were also bringing him home.

He retreated into his mind once again as a means to escape the pain and he vaguely registered the muttered Mobilicorpus that hauled him upright like some macabre marionette. As he felt himself drifting through the air, darkness began to envelope him and he let it do so without a fight.

He came to when he was unceremoniously dumped on damp, pungent soil. The air was cool around him and he concluded that they were deep inside the Forbidden Forest. Part of him hoped that Albus or Hagrid would find him while the other hoped that he'd died right then and there. His wishes were ignored when he started to hear shouting. Stupify echoed through the trees and he heard three bodies hitting the ground.

"Figures you couldn't keep you nose out of other people's business." Malfoy drawled. The person he was talking to responded with a muttered curse. He heard the younger Malfoy scrambling to get out of the way of what was probably a well executed curse.

His student retaliated and this time when Severus heard the counter curse he was able to identify the caster. It was Potter and Severus would recognize that voice anywhere.

"How low the heir of the Malfoys has fallen; taken to groveling at the feet of a halfblooded bastard." Potter baited his opponent.

"You know nothing of power, Potter."

"I know quite a bit about it, Malfoy." Potter responded and sent another curse at the Slytherin.

"Crucio!" Severus winced when Draco shouted the curse and much to his surprise Potter didn't make a sound of pain. Severus heard the curse impact and instead of screaming Potter was laughing.

"Let me show you how it's done, Malfoy. Crucio!" Severus had never heard so much hate in Potter's voice, not even directed at him. Malfoy junior screamed and the sound echoed in the trees.

"Potter, are you mad?" Severus hissed at the young Gryffindor, who immediately lifted the Cruciatus Curse and moved to his side after stupefying the blonde.

"Yes, I'm thoroughly pissed off. Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster will be here shortly."

"I didn't mean angry, impudent whelp! You've finally gone insane. All Malfoy has to do is demand they check your wand for the use of an unforgivable and you're doomed, boy."

"You shouldn't talk. If you over stress those damaged vocal cords they won't recover. As to the topic of your concern, I'd be in trouble if I was using my wand." Potter chuckled slightly before muttering a spell under his breath.

Severus was going to say something more, but was interrupted by the arrival of Albus and Minerva, both of which fussed over his tortured form. He did his best to push them away, but to no avail. They refused to listen to what little he could say. The two seemed unable to function properly, which was even more surprising than Potter using an unforgivable. Potter on the other hand seemed to be the only one capable of acting rationally. He found himself being levitated onto a stretcher and realized that was the spell Potter muttered before the two fussbudgets arrived. Once settled on the stretcher the entire group made their way swiftly to the Infirmary where they were promptly thrown out by Poppy. He uncharacteristically let the witch fuss over him and he could feel her worried frown focused on him.

"It'll be all right, Severus." She told him with a gently placed hand on his shoulder.

"It won't be, Poppy. I know that there's nothing you can do for my eyes and without them I cannot do my work. I cannot brew nor teach." Severus replied in a defeated tone.

"How about getting a sight familiar? There are several species of birds that are trained for the task."

"They don't see colour the way I must, if they see colour at all. Also the positioning of their eyes will affect the way I work. There's nothing to be done, Poppy." Severus said with a note of finality. He slid down so he was lying down and allowed Poppy to finish her exam.

Harry escaped Madam Pomfrey's purge of the Hospital Wing when they brought Snape in. He watched as Pomfrey checked Snape's injuries and couldn't help the anger that flowed through him at the defeated tone in what was left of the proud man's voice. Snape was broken and he had no idea why he was so angry. It was as if these acts were perpetrated on his body. He didn't bother to examine those feelings too closely. He made sure he was well hidden when Pomfrey allowed the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall to return to Snape's bedside. The Headmaster was on the verge of tears and Harry listened closely to their conversation.

"Severus, my boy, I'm so sorry. I should not have asked you to go back." Dumbledore told the dark-haired man.

"I would have gone whether you asked me to or not. The good outweighed the bad. We've managed to save far too many lives for me to regret this. I don't know where I'm going to go, but I'll be out as soon as Poppy releases me." Snape said in response.

"Why?" Dumbledore looked confused from what Harry could see.

"I can't teach or brew, Albus. There is nothing for me to do here other than take up space. I'll clear out for the new potions teacher." Harry bristled at the negativity that was never part of the man's personality, at least not when it came to his own abilities.

"Nonsense, Severus. You'll not be leaving here. Neither Albus nor I will allow it. This is your home and will remain so. Don't argue with me, Severus. You won't win." Professor McGonagall snapped at he colleague and Harry couldn't help cheering her on.

"Really Minerva, the Board of Governors will not allow me to freeload here if I can't teach. You also can't have someone baby sit me because of my former students trying to finish what the Dark Lord started."

"You're full of it, Professor." Harry jumped in without thinking. Everyone in the room jumped since they had forgotten he was part of the rescue party. "You can still teach. You may not be able to see what colour the potion is, but if you can tell what ingredient Neville's dropped into his cauldron from the other side of the room and with your back to him by sound alone then you can still teach. I've watched you during class. You don't need to look at your hands while chopping or shredding, you can tell if a potion's consistency is off just by the drag on your stirrer and you're able to judge how fresh something is and adjust accordingly just by its texture. So stop the self-pity. Or are you just going to let Voldemort win?" The headmaster's eyes were twinkling madly and his Head of House was looking at him with her jaw hanging open. Snape on the other hand was flush with anger.

"Potter, mind your owsinesiness. There is nothing anyone can do. Albus, I'll pack my things the moment Poppy frees me."

While he listened to the three arguing about Severus' fate his mind went into overdrive. There was a solution it just needed to be found. He decided that he'll look for a short term solution since he just didn't have the research skills to find a long term. It was a long time before his teachers stopped arguing and that was only because the medi-witch threw them out a second time. Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower and spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling thinking. He wasn't going to let Voldemort win and he was going to let Snape to allow the bastard to do so. That's what the snake-faced monster wanted. To watch Snape slide into despair and Harry wasn't going to sit around and let that happen. After the all the man saved his life a number of times and most likely more times then he knew about. Harry thought that it was past time that he repaid some of that debt despite the man's absolute hatred of him.

Harry eventually managed to return to sleep for a short time before being shaken awake by his best friend. After a short pillow fight the two met up with Hermione in the common room and they made their way to breakfast. They were among the first to be up and they sat a good distance away from any of the other Gryffindors present. Harry braced himself for the inquisition.

"Harry, what happened last night? You woke the entire Tower with your shrieks." Hermione asked, looking him over for any lingering effects.

"Yeah, Harry. It was horrible. None of us could wake you up." Ron added around a mouthful of eggs.

"Voldemort discovered that Snape was a spy and last night tortured him to make him an example to the rest." Harry told them in a hushed voice.

"I can't believe he's dead." Hermione sobbed, while Ron tried to comfort her.

"He's not."

"He's not what, Harry?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Snape's still alive. He's in the hospital wing recovering, but he won't be able to teach for a while."

"What did Voldemort do to him?" Hermione asked and Harry could see a glint of anger forming in her eyes.

"He blinded him."

"What did he use?" Harry smiled inwardly as the rage built in her eyes. She'll be willing to look for a cure for the curse while he searched for a temporary fix for Snape's problem.

"The bastard used an obscure curse called Corripio Animadverto Formositas. Dumbledore told me that there were only two documented cases and the wizards that used the spell died untimely and unnatural deaths, but their victims never regained their sight."

"Perhaps the people searching didn't look hard enough." Hermione said and Harry could see her mentally going through the library for a place to start.

"Willing to give a go, Hermione?" Harry asked and when the brilliant witch nodded broke into a huge grin. "Good. I think I can find something that will get him back onto his feet while you do what you do best."

"That's all well and good, but why do you care what happens to the greasy git?" Ron asked thoroughly bewildered at the conversation.

"Ron, he's a member of the Order. If we don't take care of him now that he's out of action who will?" Hermione questioned the boy in exasperation.

"I refuse to let Voldemort win and if we don't help him then the bastard wins. I hate losing and besides I owe Snape several times over."

Ron threw his hands up in surrender and they moved on to other topics as the Great Hall filled and their house table filled to capacity. They were just finishing their breakfast when Professor McGonagall started working her way down the table handing out she's of parchment to each student.

"Good morning, Potter, Weasley, Granger. This is your independent study sheets for potions until another teacher can be hired to teach the class." She told them with a sad look in her eyes.

"Professor, may I get a pass to the restricted section? I have some research to do and I need some references from there." Hermione had a determined look in her eyes and McGonagall's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What are you three up to?" She asked suspiciously.

"What we do best, Professor, foiling Voldemort's plans." Harry answered with a determined look of his own. "But at this moment I'll settle for wiping that smug look off of the remaining Slytherins' faces."

"Come to my office before classes start, Ms. Granger."

"Thank you, Professor."

The day went slowly, much too slowly, and after dinner Harry and his friends made their way to the library. As they walked through the halls they overheard several Slytherins in the shadows talking about Snape and his torture. Harry was fuming as he eavesdropped on the conversation. He was more determined now than he ever was to get Snape back to stalking the hallways again.

The reached the library and started working on their potions research. They had to define the uses and interactions of the Platinum Tunnel Snake's scales in potions. Leave it to Snape to pick the rarest and least know snake for them to research. They searched for hours for the references to it and they found some information in the oddest place, their Care of Magical Creatures textbook. As they read through the entry something caught Harry's attention.

The Platinum Tunnel Snake is also sought for their eyes. The of of a PTS are very much like human eyes. The see colors just like a human and they have binocular vision instead of monocular vision as their fellow reptiles. As a result of this their eyes are sought for vision repairing potions. They have been rumoured to bond with a chosen master and can allow said person view occurrences through their eyes. There are no accurate accounts so whether it is true cannot be confirmed.

As he finished reading the account he studied the picture that accompanied the section and slowly a plan began to form. All he had to do was figure out how he was going to get his hands on one of those Platinum Tunnel Snakes and decided that he needed to pay a visit to Hagrid. If anyone knew how to get their hands on something that hard to find it would be Hagrid. After last year's lesson with the Chimaeras Harry knew that Hagrid had a source for non-tradable creatures and if Hagrid was willing he'd help him smuggle one of the snakes into the school for the Professor the Slytherins won't be so smug. Now that he had an idea and plan in place he would concentrate on his assignments.