A/N: Sorry it's been so long. Sorry it's so short.

Dreaming Our Lives Away
Chapter Four: You Don't Believe That, Though, Do You?

Harry was frozen to the spot as the wolf leapt at him, aiming for his exposed throat. "SNAPE! Someone! Anyone!"

But there was no one there to hear him.

He took a step backwards, and then tripped over a fallen limb. The wolf sailed over him and into a tree. The others closed in. "Stop!" he screamed a bit uselessly. It wasn't as if they could understand him.

But stop they did. The wolves stood frozen before him, as if they had been hit with a powerful freezing spell. He pulled himself off of the ground, still a bit in shock. What had happened to them?

He stared at the wolves for a moment more, unsure of what to do. There was a great possibility that they would not remain immobile for long, but he was slightly fearful of leaving the clearing. If Snape were to return here and he were to be gone, would Harry be stuck in this place alone?

Finally he just followed his gut and skirted around the creatures. Hopefully he and the other wizard would meet up again, but he couldn't risk his life on that thought alone. After he was a little bit away from the wild dogs, he broke out into a run. He wasn't sure where he was running to. It just felt better moving away from that danger.

He would never have believed that he would ever want to be in the presence of Severus Snape. But, right now, he wanted nothing more than to be with Snape again.

-.-

Snape stood in Voldemort's circle of followers and listened to him address his current matters of importance. He was so tired… His eyes snapped open once more. Funny. He hadn't noticed that they'd been closed.

"Severus?" the Dark Lord sneered, "I'm certainly glad you showed up tonight, but really, could you try staying with the rest of us?" The glint in those red eyes sent a tingle of fear down his spine.

"Sorry, Milord."

Voldemort smiled at him calmly. "Crucio."

He didn't cry out when the spell hit him. The pain felt unbearable and unending, even though it lasted mere seconds. He slumped to his knees"I hope you all have learned an important lesson from Severus here…" the dark wizard started, but Snape never heard him finish. A wave of black crashed before his eyes and the Dark Lord and his followers were swept away by unconsciousness.

-.-

He was back in the clearing, but Potter was nowhere to be seen. The wolves were currently slinking away, suddenly afraid of him even though they had not been before. Snape couldn't help but wonder where the boy had gone and what he had done with those creatures before his departure.

Pulling himself to his feet, Snape called out the child's name. "Potter!" There wasn't an answer- at least not one that Severus could hear. So, he did what any rational spy would do. He searched the now empty clearing for signs of the boy.

After much investigation that yielded nothing but the tracks of the forest creatures, the wizard was quite ready to give up. He was tired and in pain, the Crucio's lingering effects making any movement painful and exhausting, and this was getting him nowhere.

"Potter get your sorry arse here or I'm going to-" A pop sounded to his immediate left and he turned to see the boy standing beside him. "How did you do that?" he snapped.

"I didn't," Potter replied. "I was just sitting there." A brief search of his mind showed that the boy wasn't lying.

"What happened to the wolves?"

Potter looked around. "They were about to get me… They jumped at me, I yelled and they stopped moving. Completely." He suddenly looked angry. "Where did you go?"

"I was awoken by… Damn."

"What?"

Snape glared at the boy as if this was his fault. "It appears that you and I may not have much choice in staying conscious any longer. Apparently our lack of sleep is allowing for this world to have a much stronger hold on us."

"Where were you?" Potter didn't look accusing, only curious. But that curiosity could very well get the pair of them killed.

The older wizard sighed. It certainly couldn't hurt him here speaking to the boy so candidly. "I was with the Dark Lord." Potter nodded. He seemed to understand the danger that Snape would face when he awoke.

"We're in trouble aren't we professor?"

"Possibly. We seem to have some sort of power over this forest, however little it may be, Mr. Potter. When we are particularly distressed or frustrated it appears to fulfill our needs. We may yet get out of here."

The boy was silent for a long moment. They started to walk as one.

"You don't believe that, though, do you professor?"

Snape's silence spoke far louder than his words had ever before.

-.-

Voldemort watched as Snape crumbled to the ground. "Get him, Peter." The wizard in question scrambled to the fallen man and grabbed him from under his armpits, struggling all the way to keep a hold on him. The Dark Lord sneered. Idiot.

He moved over to the pair and felt the dark haired man for a pulse. It was strong and steady. He sighed. He hadn't hit the younger man very hard with the curse; there was no reason for him to collapse like this. He sent a diagnostic spell over the unconscious wizard: exhaustion, the lingering effects of the Cruciatus, and something else.

A surge of anger shot through him. Just like Snape to get sick when his lord needed him. But there was nothing he could do of that. "Apparate him back to Hogwarts," he ordered Wormtail.

As the little man disappeared, Voldemort turned back to his other followers. "There have been recent developments with the Potter boy that not all of you have been apprised of…"

A/N: Sorry. I will try to be better at updating. I promise.