The Devil Runs Wild

*******~Meeting Snape~

Harry landed on his feet, surprisingly enough, after flooing to the Burrow. He was going to ask Dumbledore today about his dreams. He really, really didn’t want to, though. Telling Hermione and Ron was embarrassment enough, wasn’t it?

Sighing, Harry trudged to the kitchen with his head down, wondering why the world was so cruel to him.

“And you have no idea what this ‘plan’ may be?” Dumbledore’s voice asked and Harry stopped short.

“No,” a voice answered and Harry knew instantly who’s voice it was.

Snape’s.

Harry entered the kitchen with his wand drawn, pointing directly at Snape who was leaning languidly against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed.

Snape snapped his head when he heard harsh breathing behind him and simply raised an eyebrow at the boy.

“I believe we already discussed the fact that Severus is not loyal to the Dark Lord,” Dumbledore spoke out and Harry moved his eyes to look at the spectacled man in the portrait, with his wand still drawn and his hand still shaking.

“Oh, yeah…right,” Harry said and slowly lowered his wand.

“Idiot,” Snape muttered under his breath and Harry drew his wand on him again.

“What did you say?” Harry asked, glaring.

“Severus, please and Harry lower your wand,” Dumbledore said as if talking to two small children.

Harry lowered his wand but continued his glaring. Snape sneered at him.

“Harry, did you come here for a reason? Did you have something to tell me?” Dumbledore asked and Harry was forced to give up his glaring in favor of speaking to Dumbledore. Harry saw Snape out of the corner of his eye still looking at him with what could only be described as contempt and Harry became hesitant.

“Oh..um..yeah, I did,” Harry said, scratching the back of his neck in nervousness. He felt like he was in potions class again.

“Yes?” Dumbledore questioned.

Realizing Dumbledore wanted him to speak now, Harry quickly shook his head.

“Err…no..I’ll come back later,” Harry said, glancing at Snape.

“Harry, does this something that you wanted to speak with me about have anything to do with Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked and Snape stood up straight, taking great interest in the conversation that he had just previously been hoping would end soon so that he could get back to discussing things with Dumbledore…and to be rid of Potter, of course.

Harry saw Snape with his ears perked and wondered now what Snape had been discussing with Dumbledore before he came in. Had they been discussing Voldemort? They had said something about a plan…

“What plan?” Harry wondered and realized instantly that he had asked his question out loud.

“Ah, so you heard a bit of our conversation then?” Dumbledore asked.

“Eavesdropping, Potter?” Snap glared, looking dangerous.

Harry debated whether to draw his wand again or throw his shoe at Snape.

“Severus, I’m sure that whatever information Harry wishes to tell is important and may have something to do with what we were discussing,” Dumbledore said. Snape looked at Dumbledore, who was actively trying to prevent him from hassling Potter. The man could be so infuriating! Snape made a slight nod in agreement and Dumbledore smiled.

“Well, then, Harry,” Dumbledore said, eyes sparkling. “The ‘plan’ we were speaking of is something of Voldemort’s that Severus is unaware of. ”

“What?” Harry asked. He thought Severus was Voldemort’s right-hand man, his “Prince.” Surely, he would know all about Voldemort’s plans.

“It means that the Dark Lord doesn’t trust me anymore, Potter,” Snape said, glaring in annoyance.

“Oh,” Harry said. Voldemort didn’t trust Snape anymore? “That’s…that’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Very good, Potter. Next maybe you’ll be able to figure out how to hop on one foot,” Snape said.

“I..you..,” Harry desperately wanted to say something highly indecent to Snape but seemed to be unable to in front of the piercing gaze of Dumbledore.

Snape noticed Dumbledore’s gaze now too, gritted his teeth, and spoke again in a more gentler tone.

“Yes, Potter. It’s ‘bad’,” Snape said with great difficulty.

“Harry, it means that we no longer have access to Voldemort’s plans,” Dumbledore said.

Harry furrowed his brows. If the Order didn’t know about Voldemort’s plans then it would be more difficult to defend the wizarding world, right? But Voldemort had always done things before that the Order hadn’t known about. Is it really that different? Harry thought. But then Harry remembered that the wizarding world is in a time of war and any bit of information they had about the other side was needed. Not having any information at all about Voldemort’s plans would be a problem and he could see now why Snape and Dumbledore seemed so concerned about it.

“Now what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry looked at Dumbledore. He did not want to say anything about his dreams in front of Snape. That would cause more embarrassment than he thought he could handle. Dumbledore continued looking at him expectantly, though, and Harry sighed. He decided that he could speak of his dreams but didn’t have to say anything about what they were truly about. Simple, really.

“I’ve been having dreams lately,” Harry said.

“Dreams?” Snape asked.

“Dreams sent by Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked and Harry nodded.

“They happen every night now and I don’t know exactly what the point of them are. At first, I thought Voldemort was just trying to drive me crazy, but now…I don’t know,” Harry said. “I just thought you should know,” Harry added.

“Drive you crazy?” Snape asked and Harry decided that he really didn’t like Snape’s presence. Even though he wasn’t revealing anything about the subject matter of his dreams, it made Harry uncomfortable to have Snape there listening. He didn’t like Snape asking questions at all either because they came out sounding more like demands. It made Harry angry so he decided just to ignore Snape completely and didn’t even look at him.

“What are these dreams about?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry gulped. This is exactly what he was trying to avoid in front of Snape. “They’re just weird is all. They aren’t like the ones I use to get. It’s not a big deal, really, it just happens a lot now, is all,” Harry said nervously.

“Potter, what are they about!?” Snape demanded harshly and Harry jumped a bit. Damnit, he was trying to ignore Snape! Why did Snape always make him lose focus like this?

“Harry, I think it would be best if you told us what they were about,” Dumbledore said patiently.

“I..they..they’re just dreams. Just dreams,” Harry said, trying to hold eye contact with Dumbledore and not to appear nervous so that they wouldn’t have cause to ask him about the content of his dreams again.

Snape wasn’t having anything this important slide, though. He charged right at Potter and grabbed his shirt-collar roughly.

“Tell us!” Snape shouted and Harry’s hands came up, trying to get Snape’s hand off his shirt.

“Let go!” Harry shouted back.

It was to this scene that Draco Malfoy entered into the kitchen at.

“What’d I miss?” Draco asked, excitedly watching Potter struggle against Severus.

“Let go!” Harry shouted again, desperately wanting to get away now that Malfoy was here, egging Snape on.

“Severus, please do try to act more like an adult,” Dumbledore said, exasperated.

Severus sneered at the portrait, but released his grip nonetheless and Harry stumbled backward.

“We need to know about his dreams,” Severus said to Dumbledore, “Using ‘whatever tactics are necessary’, correct?” Severus said, sneering at Dumbledore who turned a bit pink around the cheeks.

Harry, righting himself, looked between the two of them, wondering what would make Dumbledore look ashamed like that when Draco interrupted.

“What dreams?” Draco asked, intrigued. It had been a boring day for Draco and any kind of distraction was welcome. Even if it did have something to do with Potter.

“Ask him,” Severus said, nodding his head at Harry, who was glaring at him.

“Well, what dreams, Potter?” Draco asked, sitting down at the table.

Harry looked at Draco and his breath caught. Draco looked so immaculate today. His buttoned-down blue shirt brought out the blue specks in his eyes and…Wait, since when had Harry noticed that Malfoy had blue specks in his eyes? He looked down at the floor in embarrassment and shame and whatever else he was feeling about noticing Malfoy at all.

Potter seemed to find the floor awfully fascinating all of a sudden and Draco was even more curious to hear about these dreams. Snape was looking at Potter curiously as well.

Harry knew they were all looking at him and he didn’t want to lift his head. He was feeling closed in, surrounded by probing eyes.

“Harry, it is very important that Severus and I know about these dreams,” Dumbledore said intensely. “What are they about?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry knew that even if he did wait until Snape was gone to tell Dumbledore that Dumbledore would tell Snape later anyway and he knew Snape would tell Malfoy, if only for a laugh. Harry regretted deeply now his decision to even come to Dumbledore about this in the first place. It seemed like the end of the road to him.

“Malfoy,” Harry breathed out, defeated.