And Then Suddenly; 'Once Upon A Time', Didn't Matter Anymore.

In response to; Thekle's Challenge

Write a Fic where Snape becomes Harry's mentor with the following criteria

Harry must have some sort of mental breakdown that Snape is forced by Dumbledore to help Harry through

Harry must at some point realize that he is gay and come out to Snape

The story must be mainly about Harry and Snape

Lupin Must make an appearance and get into an argument with Snape over Harry

Harry Must at some point say the words "I'm not my father!"

"Consider it the last wish of a dead man, Severus" insisted the fretful, life-size portrait of Albus Dumbledore. Severus Snape wondered if he had ever seen Albus look fretful in life, and was distinctly unable to recall,

"I am the last thing the boy needs Albus" there was a shake of a head full of dark, greasy hair.

"You know that for a fact?" was the retort, Severus wondered why he was arguing with a portrait. A portrait of a man who had died at his own hand. A man who had sacrificed his life to save the soul of a boy who turned out to be beyond saving.

Severus had been hunted, chased and finally caught after he took the life of his boss, mentor and probably only friend and here he was arguing with an echo of said man.

"Do not fret upon the past my boy," Dumbledore spoke warmly this time, his eyes soft, "you did as I asked and you were proven innocent. It is not your fault of the path the boy chose to follow", Snape glowered, as he often did when his failures were commented upon.

Draco Malfoy was what Severus considered his biggest failure, and from a man whose past was filled with mistakes that was no mean feat. He had been entrusted to shape the boy, to turn him away from his father and his Death-eater planned life. The boy, heir to a huge family fortune had been asked to kill the arch-nemesis of his father's master, in exchange for his father's life, knowing the immense love and respect the boy had for his father. Dumbledore had learnt of this through various sources and when he realised that there was no deterring young Draco, had hatched a plan.

"A cunning plan" Snape scoffed aloud, the portrait looked confused, but remained silent.

Dumbledore and Snape both knew what it was to take a life, it stripped a person of their innocence, and not in the traditional sense. It took from your very soul, tainted it, touched it with darkness, a darkness that would never be shifted. Nobody came away from taking a life unaltered.

To save Draco this pain Dumbledore had told Snape that if it came down to it, he should be the one. 'By any means necessary' he had ordered. So Snape had tried but the night moved so fast and before he knew what was going on he had spoken those cursed words and taken away the only person who had ever trusted him.

Luckily for Snape the whole conversation had been inserted into Dumbledore's pensieve. Otherwise not only would Snape have been looking at a long, hard stint in the wizard prison of Azkaban, he'd probably go down in history as the most hated man alive.

It was one thing to be the most hated teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but to be the most hated man in the wizarding world was something even a recluse like Severus Snape didn't want pinned to his name.

"I'm not the man for the job," he spoke firmly,

"There is no-one else," Albus' eyes were holding a deep sadness, "I'd do it myself but..." he trailed off and Snape scowled,

"We get it Albus, you're dead, I killed you, can we stop the guilt card now?" the man rubbed his temples soothingly, trying to fight away the headache that was brewing in his skull.

There was silence for a long time.

"Severus" the portrait spoke once again, "the boy needs help." He was calm, "Your help, even you can't deny that?" it was phrased as a question, but Severus knew better.

"I can deny that he needs my help. I've always said the boy needed to be institutionalised, so the former part, no I cannot deny. But the latter, that I am firmly denying."

"Who else do you suggest?"

"Any other teacher here? His multitude of friends? The werewolf? His surrogate beast family that goes by the name Weasley," this earned the teacher a painted scowl, "namely, anybody but me."

"He's too far gone for that Severus," there was a pause, "the boy has a death warrant on his hands, he's just found out that to kill Voldemort he has to die. It's not everyday a boy finds out to save the world he has to die."

"You're blaming me because Voldemort chose to stick a bloody horcrux in the boy's head?"

"I'm blaming you for nothing Severus!" Dumbledore was severe in his tone,

"But you want me to fix it", it was a weak question, Severus knew the answer.

There was a nod.

" Then what else is there to say?"

"Absolutely nothing my boy, I suggest you get to it."

As Snape was leaving McGonagall's office, he thought he caught a triumphant look in the now still painting's soft face.

Sitting in his chambers, with no light Severus tried to reflect upon his task. The 'boy who lived' was now the 'boy who lived to die'. And Severus Snape had suddenly become 'the man who had to pick up the pieces'.

"Well as long as we've all got our titles straight." Snape quipped to an empty room. It was the way he preferred things, quiet, lonely, dark.

He had a very nasty feeling, things were about to change.

"Would you like some breakfast?" it was a question asked by a person who already knew the answer, Hermione Granger asked her friend at the same time every morning, and had done for at least two months. In those two months, eight weeks, sixty-two days, the bushy-haired, head-girl of Hogwarts had never had a different answer than the one she was about to receive.

"No," a pause "thank you" an afterthought.

The dark-haired boy in front of her had once been her best friend, and now, those three words were the only conversation they had. The only words spoken between the two. In the beginning, when all this started Hermione and Ron, her boyfriend, had tried everything to snap their then best-friend out of his depression.

In retrospect Hermione supposed there wasn't much light at the end of the tunnel when you were in a world that expected you to die so they could live.

Ron Weasley had long since given up and seemed to have forgotten he ever knew Harry Potter, but, call it persistence, call it compassion, call it down-right stubborn-headedness, Hermione Granger refused to give in.

Nevertheless, this morning, like most, she walked down to breakfast alone. She contemplated the day ahead of her, she would attend classes, prepare for end of year exams, the end of school exams that would decide her future career. Sometimes she'd be in a class with Harry, where she'd sometimes cast a glance and watch him sit in the back, lost in a world of his own, talking to nobody, eyes glazed. And for a brief moment every time she would mentally chastise him for throwing his future away.

Then she would remember who she was looking at and mentally chastise herself.

Harry Potter had no future, him attending classes was a farce. The world couldn't expect to send a teenager to fight Voldemort, the most feared wizard alive. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't hear of it. But, the second Harry Potter graduated, the second he became a man in the eyes of the world, then Harry Potter would be expected to die. Be it at the hands of Voldemort himself, or at the hands of the Aurors who would ensure Voldemort never returned.

Sometimes in the sad, emerald eyes, she would catch a glimpse of the child, the boy she had known and loved. The boy she had shared her childhood with. But then, that would evaporate and she'd be hit with the startling revelation that the man that child had become couldn't be further away from her.

She had no idea who he was anymore.

And every time she thought this she'd wonder and insist that it was time to let go. She didn't know Harry Potter anymore.

Yet still, every morning, she still asked. Only to be surprised when she repeated the process almost ever other week.

Authors Note

This is a challenge that was brought to my attention in a review and I feel it is a fantastically broad and open challenge. It has so much potential that I felt I absolutely had to try it. I also encourage as many people as I can to visit Thekle's livejournal and try it for themselves!

Thekle has an account on FF dot net and can easily be searched for, you can then find her livejournal under her homepage link.

As for this, it is not finished, I think it's going to be about four chapters long. Please review though, and keep me up to date with what you think.

Much love and thanks for all your support,

Akasha x