A/N Hey, I'm back! The Frozen Water challenge-thing is over. Congrats to:

HmmSoupy

ickle-princess

Who got the answer! Which was I.C.E. the way. Ice is frozen water, and that's how you spell it. Just tell me which one you want as you're prize (or come up with a new one, but I have to okay it!)

The one-shot that won't be a part of the story a preview of a chapter/the plans I have for this story. If neither, jus tell me.

Also, a shout-out to Nosi! You rock! She sent me a PM pointing out specific mistakes I had made while editing the last chapters!

Okay…the first chapters are still changed…do not be angry for the changes:

I HAVE CHANGED A LOT!

If you re-read some of the chapters (not the first one) things are different.

Remus doesn't know anymore, I'll have him find out later.

They all look different

Dumbledore knows nothing about their lives, either

Only three positions open now, not four…no beater position, and Sirius is going to try out.

Remus is suspicious, but not that they're from the future. He just thinks something's up.

Those are the changes, go back and re-read if you want to.

I got the idea from the seventh book that Harry had finally gotten Occlumency (he could push away the visions and feelings from Voldemort), so he does in this story. Sorry if I understood wrong, but hp-lexicon says he can do it now as well, so…

Happy reading!

Chapter 9: Tuesday's Troubles

Harry slipped somewhat uneasily into his seat, looking around the familiar dungeon classroom. He knew that this would be his first real chance to see Snape. He also knew that Lily and Snape wouldn't be friends. This would also be his first encounter with Peter, as he had managed to make it to Newt Level Potions. He glanced at his father, and licked his lips nervously. This would be the first time he saw James and Snape in close quarters…he wondered if his father would prove to be like he had in Snape's memory, or if he would be different. Whatever happened, Harry knew that he would not let his father pick on Snape. He would stand up for the man that grew up to be one of the greatest hero's of the war…even if it meant alienating his father.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, turning around as he heard Harry sigh heavily. Ron and Hermione were sitting in front of Harry, who had an empty seat next to him. Ginny wasn't here yet, she'd had to stop by the water closet.

"Yeah, I guess…it's just…" Harry said, and then he nodded towards the Slytherin side. Ron gave him a blank look. "Snape." Harry said, and the one word said it all. Hermione nodded, thinking of their one-time least-favorite professor. Umbridge easily took that spot now, but Snape…they still hated him as a teacher, and for the way he had treated Harry, but they respected him. He had also protected Harry, and been a hero. Ron was still trying to find away around respecting him, but every time he mentioned Snape, the word professor came first, atomically. He respected Snape as well.

"It's weird…" Hermione said, and just then Ginny came in, accompanied by none other that Harry's mother, Lily. They were chatting and laughing, looking like friends. Harry stared as Ginny sat, not with him, but with his mother, in the front row of the class. Harry raised his eyebrows, looking at Ron, who shrugged.

"Well…you're mothers getting to get to know Bonnie, that's good, isn't it?" Hermione said, and they looked at her. The unspoken 'her son-to-be's girlfriend' was still clearly heard.

"As long as you don't expect me to ask for approval…" Harry said, and Hermione had to put her hand over her mouth, to keep from giggling. Ron just grinned, then he placed a mask of seriousness on his face.

"What makes you think you have my approval to date my sister? You had your chance," he said, sounding ever so serious. Harry looked at him, trying to decide if Ron meant it or not. Ron's face was impossible to read…for anyone who didn't know him well, that was. Harry saw the twinkle of mischief in his eyes, and raised one eyebrow.

"What makes you think that I need your approval to date your sister?" Harry asked, and Ron looked shocked for a moment.

"I'm…I'm your best mate!" he said, and Harry laughed quietly.

"I know, so that means automatic approval, doesn't it? You already trust me!" Harry said, and Ron looked at him, grinning suddenly.

"That's what you think!" Ron said, before turning around.

"Looks like I'm stuck sitting next to you," a voice said from above Harry, sounding slightly disgusted. Harry looked up and froze, for standing there, next to the open seat besides Harry, was none other than his greasy-haired, hook-nosed one-time least-favourite professor, Severus Snape.

"Um…hi, I'm Daniel, Daniel Smith," Harry said, sticking out his hand. Snape let his eyebrows rise for a minute, and Harry felt a familiar probing enter his mind. With a scowl, he pushed it away. "I know occlumency, so don't even think of prying into my mind," Harry hissed angrily. Snape froze, then, with a calculated look, nodded.

"Understood," Snape said, slowly, then he took the hand that Harry had offered, and there was a flicker of something akin to respect in his eyes. "An occlumens…hmmm, not very often that I meet another one," he said, sounding interested. It was a question, and Harry knew it, but he wouldn't really answer it.

"You're one as well, I'm assuming?" Harry asked, and when Snape nodded, pride shining in his black eyes, Harry smiled slightly. "Yes…well, what with the war, it might be important, don't you think?" Harry asked, then he turned around, watching the reaction out of the corner of his mind. Snape was studying him, trying to figure him out. A Gryffindor who didn't pick on him…Harry saw Snape's glance go towards Sirius and James, and then back to Harry. He seemed puzzled. All the Gryffindors in his year hated him…But then again, this kid was new, and probably didn't know that Snape was the hated one yet. Harry saw the conclusion on his face.

"Oh…I know they don't like you, but I don't care," Harry said, looking at Snape, and watching as surprise etched into the Slytherins face. Whether it was over the fact that Harry didn't judge him based upon James and Sirius's feelings or that Harry knew what he had been thinking, Harry didn't know. "I don't judge too quickly," he said, but then shook his head. He knew that wasn't true…Look at what he had thought of Snape most of his life? And Neville? And Sirius, when he'd first seen him? True, he'd had good reasons, but…

"Well…don't expect me to be nice just because you're not one of them. You're still a Gryffindor and I'm still a Slytherin," Snape said coolly, but Harry smiled. It wasn't as cold as it could've been. Harry mentally shook his head, wondering when he had decided to try to become friends with Snape. That would most defiantly alienate him from his father, Sirius, and Remus. Well, and Peter, too, but Harry didn't really care about that.

"And don't expect me to be cruel to you just because you're in Slytherin…I'm not from around here, remember?" Harry said, glancing up to another surprised look cross Snapes face, then it fell, and it was back to the mask that Harry saw. There was no hate on it when Snape looked at him this time.

"Well…" Snape said, and his voice was even less cold than before. Harry smiled. Then he remembered he didn't know Snape's names…or wasn't supposed to. How to ask this...

"Well, I'm afraid that in talking of you in the dorms, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter have failed to mention your name," Harry said, looking back at Snape, just catching the twitch of the lips that Harry thought was a smile. Who would've thought that Harry would be the one to make to Snape smile?

"I'm Severus Snape," Snape said, and Harry smiled.

"Nice to meet you," Harry replied, and once again Snape's eyebrows shot up, and he looked at Harry again, clearly not believing a Gryffindor that roomed with James Potter could be civil to him.

Then it was Harry's turn for surprise. "Nice to meet you as well, Daniel," Snape said, smiling coolly. Harry blinked as Snape turned to get his potion ingredients out. Snape had smiled at him. Snape at smiled at him. Sure, it had been a cold smile, but still…Snape's voice had been friendly. Harry shook his head…even after the memories, he'd never expected that…For one thing, Snape was dead. For another…he'd still hated Harry, as Harry was James's son.

"Class, sit down," Slughorn said. He smiled at every one, winking at Lily and Snape, as well as a few others. Harry had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes. The Slug-club, of course. "Welcome to Seventh Year, NEWT potions. I'm pleased to see you've all made it this far!" Slughorn went on to talk about how important NEWT's were to your future. Harry felt his attention wandering, and he glanced at Snape, who rolled his eyes.

"This is my fourth NEWT lecture…you'd think they'd just make one teacher give them all," he told Harry in a whisper. Harry was hard-put not to shake his head. Here he was, whispering against the teachers, with Snape. He had never imagined that this would happen…ever.

"Yeah, well…Kisner doesn't," Harry told him, "but I warn you…he's the male version of McGonagall. Even James and Sirius paid attention in his class," Harry said, nodding towards his dormmates. Snape's eyebrows rose again.

"A teacher got those buffoons to listen?" Snape said, and a quick grin flashed across face. Harry started again. Snape could grin? And it was a real grin, not his ever present smirk. Harry shook his head. This was really messing with his version of Snape. "I'm looking forward to having him."

"…since I'm sure you will all do splendidly on your NEWTs, at least in potions!" Slughorn said, beaming around the room and even winking at his favorite students, which included, of course Snape, Lily, James, someone that looked suspiciously like Narcissa before she married Malfoy, and a Ravenclaw that reminded Harry of someone, he just couldn't figure out whom.

"Hmph…all do splendidly? I doubt these dimwits could make a Draught of Living Death to save their lives," Snape remarked, sounding very much like his older, cruel professor-self. Harry blinked. It was weird, seeing Snape grin and then act like the man Harry disliked so much.

"I'm not even going to be taking the NEWTs," Harry said, risking a glance in Snape's direction. His eyebrows had risen again, but he was looking at Harry shrewdly.

"Don't they have them in America?" he asked, and Harry paused for a split second. In truth, he had no idea if there were NEWTs in America or not.

"Yeah, they just don't call them that. We'll have to retake our own Seventh Year when we get back, anyway. The credits we get here won't count, just like the credits from our old school don't count for Hogwarts," Harry said, pretty sure it was a plausible reason and making a mental note to tell Ron, Hermione, and Ginny what he had told Snape.

"Oh…How do you become an exchange student?" Snape asked quickly, and Harry wondered why Snape was so talkative. He just wasn't that kind of person. Snape was a loner, not really that nice except to a select few (Harry's mother being the only non-Slytherin included in this small group).

"We signed up, talked to the teachers, you know…just showed our interest," Harry said, shrugging. "Not many people think of doing this, seeing as it's not done often," Harry said, hoping that his explanation would still stand later. He was going to have to remember to tell his friends quite a bit so they didn't contradict each other.

"Who did you stay with over the summer?" Snape asked quickly, smoothly filing in as soon as Harry gave him a space. Harry shook his head. He really never would have figured Snape for a talker.

"Oh, just a family," Harry said, thinking of the Weasley's. "They were really nice. No kids in Seventh Year, though," he added, hoping that Snape didn't ask him to get more specific. He couldn't think of a single family name he could give that Snape wouldn't see for a lie. Of course, because things never worked out for Harry Potter, Snape asked.

"Their names were…?"

"Er-The Patils," Harry pulled out of thin air, praying that girls father didn't attend Hogwarts currently. For once, fate was nice to Harry.

"Hmmm, Percival Patil graduated last year. He was a Ravenclaw, quite smart…don't know why he's dating a Gryffindor," Snape said, his lip curling disdainfully. Harry almost laughed. It was a very Snape thing to do. His lip had curled like that throughout Harry's Hogwarts years.

"Hey, nothing's wrong with Gryffindors!" Harry said quickly, pushing his thoughts away. He didn't want to think more about the future than he had to. If he did, Harry knew he would give something away to the shrewd Slytherin.

"Oh….You're one, aren't you?" Snape said disdainfully. From the way Snape had said it, Harry was sure that he hadn't forgotten. Why did Snape want Harry to hink he had? "What's it like, rooming with the idiots?" Snape asked icily, and Harry didn't even bother to ask who he was talking about. Even if he hadn't known of Snape's hate for the Marauders, he would've known of the Marauders dislike for Snape. The went on and on a bout him in the dorms. Harry had to concentrate to not call Snape either Professor Snape or Snivelus.

"Not too bad," Harry said, honestly. He'd only spent one night in their room, after all. He'd had no chance to be pranked by them, nor had he managed to truly get on their bad side…yet.

"I find that hard to believe," Snape said dryly, giving a disdainful glance toward his enemies.

"Hey, they don't dislike me," Harry said. "I'm a Gryffindor. They're really not that bad…in fact, they're rather funny, the way they joke with each other," Harry added, a smile tugging at his lips as he remembered the scene in the dorm room the night before. James and Sirius bantered like Fred and George did, with the same closeness that both the Twins and Harry and Ron felt. Once or twice, it caused a twinge in Harry's heart, remembering that he would never again see the Twins laughing like that, picking on each other in a way that only they could. He quickly pulled his mind away from the gloomy thoughts.

He glanced back at Snape, hoping that Snape hadn't noticed Harry's quick slip into depression. At the look in Snape's eyes, Harry sighed heavily. Of course, with his quick eyes that seemed to catch everything, Snape had noticed. But he didn't ask. In fact, he was pretty silent for the rest of lesson, not really glancing at Harry, except to see how he was doing on his potion. Harry had to suppress a grin at the look of surprise on Snape's face. This was a potion he had made over the summer, a fair few times, having found some of Snape's notes on potion making. Harry had actually memorized most of Snape's recipes, figuring that they would help in when he was an auror. He did feel guilty about it, sometimes, but…

"Why are you stirring with a wooden spoon and four times clockwise, three times counterclockwise? The recipe says to stir with a silver spoon and to stir seven times clockwise only?" Snape asked. Harry stared at him, unable to answer for a few seconds. This was Snape…Potion's master of Hogwarts, The Half-Blood Prince. Snape had written all of the helpful hints that Harry was now using…and Snape was now asking Harry for them? This was a little to strange, even for Harry.

"It, uh…well…it, er, works better that way?" he said, quite unsure of his answer. Snape leaned over to get a better look at Harry's potion, noticed how it was turning the exact color it was supposed to at this point and nodded, grabbing his quill and jotting it down in his Potions book. Harry was relieved to see multiple scribbles all along the edges of the book already, even though it was only the first day back.

"So…do you like Potions work?" Snape asked Harry quietly, a few minutes later. 'Was the talkative Snape returning?' Harry couldn't help but wonder.

"It's okay…My potions professor didn't like e very much, though, so I never could really enjoy the subject," Harry said with shrug. "When I do it on my own, I don't mind it…it's actually rather enjoyable. But by favorite subject, by far, is Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry was concentrating on adding the right amount of Beetle-eye-unicorn-horn mixture to his potion. If he added too much, it would turn yellow and start sending spurts of potion out. If he added to little, the potion would turn solid and shrivel into a ball. He might have made it before, but it was extremely complicated and he had to pay attention to what he was doing or he would do something drastically wrong.

"Why didn't your professor like you?" Snape asked, once again giving Harry no time to think between questions. Harry cocked his head to one side, wondering…Hadn't Snape's recipe said to let the potion sit for four minutes before adding in the powdered rats tail?

"He and my dad didn't get along too well," Harry said, kneeling down to eye the amount he had in his goblet, trying to gauge how much longer it had to wait.

"Why?" Snape's question came shortly.

"They just didn't," Harry said, none too sure as to why. After all, it had to start somewhere, and Harry didn't really know where.

"What makes Defense your favourite?" Snape asked, once again before Harry had even managed to finish adding the right amount of the mixture. The next ingredient was….a dragon scale, from a Welsh Green. If he remembered rightly, Snape' notes had told him to cut into fourth, that way it would dissolve faster and wouldn't take as much stirring.

"I'm good at it and it's useful," Harry replied, already starting to cut the dragon scale.

"What are you doing that for?" Snape asked, distracted from his questioning by Harry's actions.

"Cutting it…the smaller the pieces, the faster it dissolves," Harry said, adding it the potion, which turned greed a lot faster than the book said it should take. Harry suppressed a grin as Snape added another note to his potions book.

"Useful? How, we're seventeen," Snape said, adding his own scale, cut into fourths just like Harry's had been.

"I'm eighteen and we're in a war," Harry said, reading the next line and trying to remember if Snape had said anything about it…he didn't think Snape had, so he just did what the book said. Was it his imagination, or did Snape look disappointed that he had't done anything different?

"Eighteen? Okay, but that is still a little young to deal with the Dark Arts…" Snape said, glancing around, then he lowered his voice, "and I thought you Gryffindor's hated that with a passion, anyway?"

"We do," Harry answered. "That's one reason I love Defense Against the Dark Arts so much…it teaches you how to fight the Dark Arts. And all because you're young doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared. The Death Eaters don't care if you're young and Voldemort sure as—" Harry said, but Snape had gasped and dropped his knife, creating a knick in the wooden table. He was staring at Harry, his eyes lightly wider than usual.

"How…how can you say his name?" Snape asked Harry, and Harry felt his blood grow cold at the obvious awe, not of himself, but of Voldemort. The way Snape had said him…it hadn't been fearful, of hateful, but almost worshipful. This was Dark Arts Snape…and Harry felt the familiar anger spring up in him.

"Because fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself," he snapped. "If Voldemort is to be brought down, we have to start by saying his name...It's one way to stand up to him!" Harry voice was quite heated, and he didn't notice Sirius, James, and Remus staring at him in awe from the desk ahead.

"You're a mere child…How do you think you can stop him?" Snape asked coolly, the sneer evident in his voice. He sounded so much like the Snape that Harry had known that Harry almost called him professor.

"I'll do anything I can…One more person standing up to him is one less person that will join him, one less person that will allow him to get away with the atrocities he does one more obstacle in his path…And that is a worthy goal," Harry said, not even paying attention to his potion anymore, but looked at Snape with a determined gaze. Snape stared coolly back. Snape just nodded at him, and went back to work. Harry suddenly understood Snape's questioning. He had been trying to find ut about Harry, not because he wanted to get to know Harry, but because he liked t have things to hold over people. He had wanted Harry to slip something, or if not that, say that he was on his side. Harry scowled to himself…Why did he think that maybe this Snape was different, more like the Snape that the former potions master showed himself to be in the end?

They finished their potions work in a tense silence, neither looking at the other one.

A/N Bet you didn't expect that, did you? Well…for those of you who want to see Harry and Snape become friends…maybe they will, maybe they won't, it all depends how the story comes out. But this is how I see Snape being at the time, cunningly asking questions to discover the hidden things about those around him, automatically assuming that they are hiding something. I'm not saying that this is how Harry and Snape's relationship will stay, I'm just quite sure that Snape wouldn't easily become friends with someone who is a Gryffindor and most definitely against Voldemort, nor can I see Harry hiding his hate of Tom, even in the past.

APOLOGY!!:

Also…sorry for the long update, but I'm a junior who took all the advanced and AP classes, so my class-load is insane. I'm also in the play, which takes away even more of my time. I'll try to update, but it will be really, really hard.