Okay, first of all, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait! I had this all planned out, to an extent, but I needed some feedback from a friend about if my game plan was incredibly stupid, ormight just work. Well, here you have it. She said it just might work! So, y'all get another chapter. A long one, too! I seem to be having an easier time of writing (for now), so hope y'all enjoy. I'm going on vacation soon, and will not have my computer with my until July at the earliest. However, this means more time for writing, less time for playing. Yay! Don't ask. I know it doesn't make much sense. Enjoy!

Severus stared at the man before him, brow furrowed in confusion. "Who are you?"

Now, normally Severus would have been extremely careful to be polite to anybody he met -- you never knew who was working for the Dark Lord. However, when almost everybody you met was completely insane ... well, the old rules no longer applied.

The man smiled softly at that, extending his hand, which Severus warily took. "My name is Kayne. May I ... come in?"
Now, that was a surprise. There wren't many people around (that he knew of), who actually had the state of mind to tell you their name. Most simply spent their days in a cloudy haze, escaping from reality in the only way they knew how. Insanity. He'd learned that lesson the hard way -- asking Virginia Weasley to answer a logical question.

It hadn't been pretty.

Severus pushed such wayward thoughts to the back of his mind, angry at himself for allowing such useless thoughs to interfere with one of rare lucid moments.

Quickly stepping aside, Severus allowed the man to enter in to his personal rooms, watching his every movement. It was a habit, really, to be suspicious of everybody he met. Perhaps it was unnecessary now, in these days, but old habits died hard.

Or perhaps this man was simply more dangerous in his insanity.

Kayne smiled at the sight of the dark haired boy sprawled out on the couch, brow furrowed slightly at the strange pull he felt toward the young boy. He seemed so ... familiar. Perhaps he was reminiscent of the boy he had known in his own years among humans?

Forcing himself to look away from thos brilliant green eyes -- it was the eyes that pulled him the most, he decided -- Kayne once again turned to the dark-haired man who had first greeted him.

Now how to go about this?

Severus returned to his seat, waving his hand in the general direction of the other chair beside him, and diagonal from Harry. "We don't have much time ... the madness could overtake me at any moment, so I suggest you hurry up and say whatever it is you came here to say."

"Right. Of course. As I said, my name is Kayne. I'm not sure if any of you have ever heard of something called the Veil ..." Kayne stopped at the sharply drawn breath from the dark haired youth, licking his lips at the stricken look on the boy's face. "Or perhaps you have. I fell through this device a time ago. I'm not sure what speculations have been made, as to where it leads. However, it led me to a place displaced in time. I was outside of the main stream of time. From there, I was able to gather, after quite a while, mind you, that something is decidedly wrong. Time itself seems to be ... changing. Rearranging itself. Perhaps even desintegrating, if I read things correctly. And it all seems to be originating from this place. This Castle. This very room."

Severus stared at the man for a mom ent, eyes narrowed as he tried in vain to detect any sort of madness from the man. A twitch, an unnatural glow coming from his eyes ... anything. But it wasn't there. His black hair was well kept, brown eyes devoid of any hint of the madness that ran rampant through the castle .. through the very world. His hands did not shape, his foot did not tap uncontrollably. There were no outward signs of madness anywhere he could see.

Of course, it was possible that this was just a hullucination, brought on by his own madness. But it was so different, from anything he had ever experienced before. And really, he had no choice but to assume this ... all this ... was real. He could not go through life second guessing his every moment, his every decision. It would drive him mad.

Or, well, if he wasn't already insane, it would.

Rubbing a hand tiredly across his face, SEverus bowed his head, deep in thought, before glancing up at the man from beneath his brows.

He wanted another bath.

Pushing that thought away for a later time, Severus stood to his feet, walking over to the fire place, hands clasped behind his back.

"I assure you, what I tell you is the truth. I realise that durring this time, something has happened to Magic. Something irreplacable, something that cannot be undone. But if I do not act quickly, everything will be lost. There are those in this world -- muggles, as yo call them -- who have not been effected by your madness. For all we know, time itself could very well be desintegrating before our very eyes. All that i know, is that something here --"

"What did you do this time, Potter?" Severus cut the otherman off, turning to fix the dark-haired youth with a pointed stare.

"I don't know!" Harry was quick to defend himself, althoughinside he was more than l ittle bit relieved that the Potions Master was finially beginning to act a little bit more likehimself. Crasy as it sounded, he'd actually missed the death glare now being sent his way.

"I'm afraid that I don't understand. How could this be the boy's fault? You're son, I presume?"

That caused both of the other occupants of the room to turn and stare at him in shocked dismay, and Kayne cleared his thrat, shifting in his chair, suddenlt uncomfortable.

"I assure you, he is not my son. He was once a student here. However, he was supposed to have died durring an attack on the castle. He claims that he was somehow brught here from the past, before the final attack on Hogwarts by the Dark Lord. he also claims to have been approached by Vampires, something I have no recollection of ever having happened, in all my years of life."

Kayne merely nodded, looking between the two men for a mo ment before once again relaxing back into his chair. "If you were brought here from another time ... you could be irrevocably changing things. Your magic is untainted, pure, unlike themagic that now exists. Because of this, you are effecting the very air around you, bringing those you meet into a lucidity they would not have otherwise experienced." By now, Kayne was leaning forward in his chair, hands gesturing dramatically. "I made sure to research this time thoroughly before comming here, and discovered that this is what would happen with my own magic. It was a risk, interfering with the timeline like this, bu t at the rate things are going, it doesn't really matter."

Severs stared at the man before him, thoughtful now, as he turned his gaze on his student. It sounded plausible, however unlikely as it might have seemed. Every single witch or wizard helt magic within them -- a core of magic, you mght say. It was from this that they drew their magic. It ws tot his that the magic around them gtahered, giving them the power that they needed. Therefore, Potter had, unknowingly, brought pure, untainted magic back into a world that hd without it for quite some time.

Which meant, of course, that Potter was responsible for his current state of lucidity. Dammit. Now he'd have to thank the brat.

"So ... how do we fix it? You know, send me back home, and fix that thing you were talking about?"

"Ever the eloquent one, Potter. But he's right. You must have some sort of idea how to fix this, or you never would have come here."

Kayne drew in a deep breath, before slowly letting it out. "Without the use of magic, it will take us a while to get there, but there is a monestary in Turkey that we must get to. There is a man there that I know, who can help us. Also, I was able tog ather that this monestary is the one place mostly unaffected by the spreadof this .. madness. There are witches and wizards there that may be lucid enough to help us."

Severus merely stared at the man before him, mind swirling at this new information. A place where magic users still lived in relative peacce? Where the madness was not as strong? That meant ... that meant that there might still be a way to save the wizarding world.

Severus Snape had never thought of himself as a hero. He did what was needed, when it was needed. He had hurt people in his life -- hurt them beyond words. He had hurt people in ways that still, to this day, gave him nightmares. Or, well, they had the last time that he had been able to sleep a night through without the madness taking over. But he was no ahero. He was not the type to go off on some heroic quest to save the world. He left that to types like Potter.

But Potter was the only reason he was sitting here, able to think clearly for the first time in only Merlin knew how long. Was he really willing to give that up?

"How far away does Potter have to be before the madness will take over again?"

"Oh, you should be good for an hour or two after he laves the general vicinity. But after that, the magic will leave and you will once again begin feeling the effects of the tainted magic around you."

Severus merely nodded, before turning to the boy. "Potter, I believe that you should be able to find some sort of clothing around here that will fit you. I've heard that Longbottom has taken over the Gruffindor common rooms, but I'm sure there was a Slytherin whose clothing will fit you. Take what you need, amd meet us back here as quickly as you can. Understood?"

Harry nodded, hesitating for only a moment before quicly running toward the Slytherin common rooms, leaving an irate Potions Master to wonder just how the Golden Boy knew where the Slytherin Common Room was.