Heart Within the Shadows

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing but OCs and original plot.

Dedication: this story is dedicated to the memory of Alan Rickman, a great man and a wonderful actor who gave life to our dear Severus Snape. May he rest in peace. He will be loved and remembered. Always.

Chapter 1: No Longer Teacher's Pet

The warm summer heat lingered in the still night air. The moon had risen over Spinner's End, casting its pale silver light across the empty streets and narrow roads between the buildings. Somewhere beyond the horizon a wind was blowing, bringing with it relief from the stifling summer heat. It came up over the hillside, gently rustling the curtains the adorned the windows of Severus' bedroom. He had left his window open in hopes of beckoning the breeze into his house, and yet it did little more than stir the dust on the windowsill.

Severus Snape awoke with a start in the dead of night, as a burning pain suddenly flared to life within the mark on his left forearm. Sitting bolt up right in bed, he drew in a sharp breath and screamed as he felt the pain searing through his flesh. He quickly yanked up the left sleeve of his faded grey nightshirt, and saw that his mark had turned solid black, the image of the writhing serpent slithering from the mouth of the skull clearly visible on his sallow skin.

His eyes went wide as he stared at the moving image of the serpent in the moonlight. He knew what it meant when his mark burned and turned black, but why was this dreadful image burning with pain the likes of which he had never felt before? The pain was so intense it made his eyes water, and he had to bite his bottom lip to keep from screaming as another wave of pain surged through the image imprinted on his skin.

The searing pain vanished almost as soon as it began, giving him little time to collect his wits after being jolted awake in the middle of the night. He then looked up when he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror across his room, and saw that his night shirt was sticking to his body, his clothing damp with perspiration. Sweat stood out in a galaxy of fine dots on his forehead, trickling down the side of his face and into the collar of his night shirt. He was shaking, his right hand trembling as he eased his hair out of his face, gazing at his horrified expression in the mirror.

He swallowed hard, taking a minute to collect his thoughts, then looked down at his mark and softly whispered, "Good Lord... What is the meaning of this?"

.oOo.

The weather began to cool as the beginning of the new school year approached. It wouldn't be long until the students began filing into the classrooms, bringing with them more noise and mess as cauldrons erupted and spilled their contents all over the floor. Severus swore that these imbeciles were getting dumber by the day, and he doubted if any of them retained the knowledge and information he was trying to teach them. And then there was Potter and his two friends. They were starting their sixth year, and that loathsome brat still hadn't learned anything. He continued to scrap a passing grade by asking Granger for advice, always whispering, muttering, asking her what to do.

Severus was in no mood to deal with their nonsense, watching as the Golden Trio entered and took their seats. He'd been on edge ever since he awoke in the middle of the night with his mark burning, the memories of that night still lingering on the edge of his thoughts. In fact it soon became obvious to everyone in class that he clearly wasn't himself that morning.

It all began when Draco failed to produce the simple sleeping draught they were working on that morning. The professor was so displeased with this less than satisfactory result that he took fifteen points from Slytherin house.

"Did you see that?" Hermione whispered to Harry, leaning in close so as not to be overheard by the other students. "Snape never takes points away from his own house. And he certainly doesn't take points away for something Draco did."

Harry was quiet, gazing intently at the professor through the haze of multicolored steam that was rising from his cauldron. He watched as Severus returned to his desk at the head of the class, sat down in his chair and started unconsciously rubbing the mark on his arm. He seemed distracted, as though his thoughts were far away on something else, when suddenly a loud bang erupted from the back of the class room. Neville's potion had exploded, and the resulting noise caused Severus to leap right out of his seat and crash onto the floor.

Hermione gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as the Potions Master fell to the floor beside his desk. Meanwhile Ron was fighting back laughter, grinning from ear to ear as he elbowed Harry in the side, pointing at Severus as he lay sprawled out on the floor.

As Severus slowly resurfaced above the desk, Neville began babbling excuses to the furious teacher as a foul smelling purple smoke billowed from his cauldron.

"Sir, I-I'm so sorry, professor," Neville stammered nervously. "I just... I mean, my hand just slipped. I-it was an accident!"

Severus stood up, his sallow face livid with rage. He slammed his fist on the desk and shouted, "Thirty points from Gryffindor!"

Neville nearly leapt out of his skin when Severus yelled at him. He jumped up, stumbled backwards, and bumped into Pansy Parkinson, who was busy meaauring out liquids in two separate vials for her potion.

As he watched the events unfolding before him, Harry felt a sharp, stinging wave of pain hit him from out of no where, causing his scar to burn with searing pain. He held his forehead, hissing in pain as Severus winced and held his left arm, his fingers massaging the area over his mark.

'It's happening to him too,' thought Harry. 'He looks like he's in pain. But why would we both be feeling this at the same time?'

.oOo.

That evening at dinner, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what he had witnessed in potions class that morning.

"Snape must be having pain in that mark of his, just like I have in my scar," said Harry. "It couldn't be a coincidence. I saw him wince and hold his arm the same time my scar started to hurt."

"So what? It's his own fault," Ron said, stuffing his face with mashed potatos. "If he hadn't been out running around with you-know-who, he wouldn't have that bloody thing burned into his arm in the first place."

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. "You don't get it, do you, Ron? There must be a connection of some sort. Why else would Professor Snape and Harry be feeling the same thing? Besides, this can't be a good thing. It could be a warning of some sort."

"But it's not like him, is it?" Harry asked, playing halfheartedly with the meatloaf on his plate. "Since when does you-know-who torture people from afar? If he really had it in for Snape, wouldn't he just send someone to kill him instead of playing around like this?"

"Maybe it's not that easy for him to get at Snape while he's in the school," suggested Ron, wiping gravy from his chin with his napkin.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Hermione snapped, annoyed by Ron's ignorance.

"What?" Ron looked slightly puzzled.

"He has his ways!" Hermione continued. "And Harry is right. Snape would have been dead a long time ago if he wanted him dead. He wouldn't act this way. It must be someone else causing this."

"But who?" Ron asked. "Who else has the power to make this stuff happen? Certainly not one of the Death Eaters."

This idea made all three of them fall silent. They didn't know who would be able to do such a thing, or why they would choose to attack Severus. Maybe it wasn't someone within Voldemort's inner circle at all. And if that were true, then who was doing this to him? And why was it also effecting Harry?

After a few minutes of silent thought, Harry had an idea. He looked over at Ron and said, "Whatever is effecting Snape is also affecting me, and I don't trust anything he's involved in. So why don't we get out my invisibility cloak and see if we can figure out what's wrong with him? All we have to do is wait until everyone's gone to bed, then go down to the dungeons and have a look around."

Ron nodded, while Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. She refused to take part in their little adventure through the castle. She was certain there were other ways to figure out what was happening, using more sensible methods that didn't involve the possibility of getting caught and thrown in detention. She'd work on figuring this out on her own while Ron and Harry went sneaking off for another late night adventure.