The rest of Christmas break was mainly spent sitting around the house with Severus. Occasionally sitting curled up in bed together with a good cup of tea.

Once the two of you had to return you hadn't seen much of him except for in class and on the occasion that he would ask you to stay behind just to give you a smirk before you left.

Thankfully Umbridge didn't give you a problem, but one day you had heard that Potter and his friends had gotten in trouble for making some sort of club for learning Defense Against the Dark Arts. Quite frankly, you didn't blame them.

The snow on the ground had just started melting and as always with your school work, you were bored. It was all too simple, you had no clue as to why you got work at all. Granted only a select amount of people actually knew that you were The Half Lord and all. But still.

You were sitting in the common room one evening talking with Asher when he mentioned a topic you wished no one would bring up.

"Why aren't you security anymore?"

You began to feel an uneasiness in your stomach as you answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you were Hogwarts security for a year but then you disappeared for seven. Since you returned you've been a fifth year when you should be in my year."

Sighing, you stand up from your seat by the fire and glance at Asher sadly.

"In a way, I'm still doing my job. Just not in a way that I could tell anyone. Goodnight, Asher."

Before he could respond you left and went to your dorm, shutting the door and letting Alec out of his cage to visit.

"Hey, bud. How's it going?" The only response you got was a hoot. What else could you expect from an owl?

"Yeah, I know the feel. Do you want some food?" Alec gave out two very shrill hoots in response, hopping up and down on his stand in excitement.

"Well you're in luck, I've got your favourite. Rotisserie chicken." You pulled the still warm chicken out from a pocket in your robe. "Sorry, there may be some lint." But as always, Alec didn't care and just scarfed down the whole thing anyways. You made it a habit to bring him some food from the great hall every day. Even if it meant sneaking in before the end of breakfast or lunch just to feed him. He was always hungry.

You looked over to the empty beds around you. Ever since you came back you had this room to yourself. Sometimes you enjoyed it, other times you didn't. On the bright side, you could talk to Alec in peace.

Glancing over at Alec you pulled out the wand that the real Alec made with you. You ran your thumb over the engraving on it and sighed.

"I wish he was here, Alec. He'd be great to talk to right about now, you know. You've never met him but I'm sure you'd get along great."

Once again, all Alec did was hoot. Never anything different. He was an owl after all.

You got changed and slid into bed, never bothering to close the curtains since you were always alone. Setting your wand on the nightstand, you bid Alec goodnight before falling into a deep sleep.

~in dream~

"Welcome to dream land, little bird."

Great, the last voice you wanted to hear, Vince. When would he ever go away?

"Shut up. Go away. Hasta la vista el estupido."

"Well, that's not very nice now is it?"

"It wasn't meant to be." You muttered.

"Now. Let's get down to business. You're stuck here until I let you go, and who knows when that'll be."

"Yeah, right. I'm sure I'll wake up in a couple of hours craving some chocolate frogs or something."

"I was talking. Anyways, you cut off my leg, and I want revenge. So what better way to do that? Invade your dreams until you lose your mind! Aren't I brilliant!"

"Not really. If anything I'll drive you so crazy you'll be forced to let me go."

"Alright, I'm gonna have fun with this."

You didn't realise it before, but you'd been blindfolded the entire time. Vince removed it and it looked like you were in your room in the Hufflepuff common room.

"Ha, see I'm still here."

"No, you're not. You're dreaming and you're not leaving any time soon. M'lord."

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that you imbecile?"

All he did was grin and disappear, his voice soon echoing in your head.

"I hope you like my little surprise when you wake up."

"What did you do??"

"You'll find out.....eventually.."

Vince's voice faded and you decided to try and find a way out of this dream.

"This can't possibly be that difficult. Right?"

You got out of bed and got dressed. Even though you were in a dream you still had to look good, right? Everything was the same, even Alec was sitting in his cage staring at you in curiosity. You were sure that Vince was up to no good in the real world but you had no idea how to wake yourself up to stop him. So you did what any other person would do in a similar situation. You gathered your wand and your bag and went to find the only person you trusted with this sort of thing. Severus.

Since you were in a dream, you didn't really care about going to class or the fact that the floor was suddenly on the ceiling. Normal dream stuff, y'know. Finally after passing Filch dressed up like Umbridge- something that wouldn't even faze you if you were awake- you made it down to the potions room and entered. As expected, Severus was there. Along with an entire class of first years who looked deathly afraid of something bad happening since you just walked in unannounced during the middle of class.

"Miss (l/n), what exactly are you doing here in the middle of my class? It will be in your best interest to answer quickly."

"I need to talk to you about something very urgently, professor. This simply cannot wait."

"I'll listen, but if you take too long you'll have to leave."

You hurried to his desk and hunched over as to keep your conversation private.

"You may think I'm insane for saying this, but trust me. It's very real. Say a certain character named Vince decided to trap you in a dream to cause trouble. How do you wake up?"

"Have you tried jumping off the astronomy tower? I'm sure you'd wake up when you hit the ground."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or if that's a genuinely good idea. But either way- thanks!"

You dashed out of the classroom faster than you could say 'alohomora' and you didn't stop running until you reached the astronomy tower. Stepping over the railing you barely held on.

In all of the madness it turns out that Filch had followed you to scold you for running in the halls. He stopped in his tracks when he figured out what you were going to do.

"Get back over here right now before I send you to the headmistress!" he squawked.

You didn't think twice. You jumped. Feeling the air rush through your hair, you felt almost...free. That feeling remained of course until a certain voice reminded you of something that you'd seen before.

"Fly little bird, FLY!!!" Vince had appeared- you could hardly see his face- and was cackling on top of the tower. A crowd had gathered and you saw someone point their wand at you and you could barely hear the spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa!!"

Nothing happened. Your body turned in the wind and you landed face first on the ground with a loud crunch.

Moments passed before you heard the words: "Ronald, you idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? It's Wingardium LeviOsa, not LeviosA!" You chuckled to yourself...wait...you're alive?

Rolling over, you groaned until you saw Vince's face inches away from yours.

"(f/n), you idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? It's 'Fly little bird, fly', not, 'fall little bird, fall'!"

You were only able to slur one comeback before you became drowsy and felt your eyelids closing "Sod off ya dusty pudding brained git."

"Trust me when I say this, (l/n). You're going to feel a lot worse when you wake up." Vince snickered as you fell unconscious.

You woke later in the hospital wing and Madam Pompfrey rushed over to you in surprise. "Are you alright?" she asked in amazement.

"Yes, except the fact that I'm still dreaming."

"That's absurd. You're not dreaming."

"Of course I am, why else would Filch be dressed up like Umbridge?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. You took a pretty good hit to the head during the sorting ceremony and you've been in a coma for over a month."

"So you're telling me that I've been dreaming this entire time and everything I remember is a lie?"

"Essentially, yes."

You had no idea what to say or who to go to. Everyone who you had dreamed of knowing and meeting were gone. You didn't even have Asher and Bosco. You felt...helpless, alone...like eating a huge cake. No idea where that last thought came from. Then again, you hadn't eaten a proper meal in over a month.

"Now what?"

"You get to go back to your normal life. One question before you get up and leave: did you hear what house you were placed in?"

You thought back to the sorting ceremony. "Well, all I remember is being put in Hufflepuff."

"Not even close. You're a Slytherin."

Completely bewildered, you slowly stood up and turned to Madam Pompfrey. "Where do I go now? I don't know about anything except my house."

"Seeing as you hadn't made any friends before you went into a coma, the headmaster appointed your head of house to care for your owl while you were unconscious. If I were you, I would go to Dumbledore to get things sorted out."

"I'll head there right away. Thank you Madam Pompfrey."

"Make sure you get plenty of rest, I don't know how much you can take yet."

You walked out of the hospital wing and headed towards the headmasters office. You stopped in front of the staircase leading to the office when you realised you didn't know the password.

"Well this is great, im going to be guessing stuff like 'lemon drops' until-"

The griffin began to turn and reveal the staircase and you hopped on before it stopped.

Well that worked.

The second you went to knock you heard Dumbledore's voice from inside inviting you in.

"Ah, (f/n), glad to see you've finally woken up. Take a seat." You sat down in the seat across from him and took a deep breath.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, seeing as my subconscious made a whole reality for me and just crushed my soul by taking away everyone and everything I cared about, I'm doing alright."

"I believe you're here to get your schedule, miss (l/n)."

"Yes, actually. And I've been told that my head of house is taking care of my owl. Where would I be able to get my owl?"

Dumbledore pulled out a piece of parchment with your schedule on it- coincidentally the same schedule you got in your dream. "After dinner this evening you can go to Professor Snape's classroom and retrieve your owl."

"Thank you." There was a pause. "Do you happen to know the current password for the Slytherin common room? Otherwise I won't know how to get in."

"Yes, indeed. The password is pureblood. Is there anything else you may need?"

You rose from your chair. "Not that I can think of, headmaster."

"You may take the rest of the day off seeing as it's almost lunch. Do enjoy your day, (f/n)."

"Thank you, headmaster, you too." You turned and exited the office and went on with your day.