Chapter 28

James had gotten a message to go practice with Snape, and was now leaning against a wall in the Room of Requirement, waiting for him to finish with the last of his exams in Dumbledore's office. Frankly, he wasn't at all looking forward to dealing with Assistant-Professor Snivellus next term. Maybe he could be trusted with the big, important things, but James didn't put it past the greasy bat to take a little revenge where he could get it. For that matter, he couldn't help but wonder whether Snape had seen Lily Evans over the summer. She never had replied to that letter. Anyway, he'd drive himself mental thinking about that. This was a time to hone his skills. If Snivellus could be mature, then by Merlin, James sure as hell wasn't going to let himself be anything less.

He'd had to make up the most dry, boring-sounding reasons possible why he was needed at Hogwarts. Sirius had been staying at his house, ever since the Noble House of Black reached maximum intolerability. Right now, Sirius was off with Remus, no doubt being his usual ridiculous self. James wondered how long he could keep a secret from Sirius without causing more tension. He'd never kept anything from Sirius in his life, no matter how embarrassing or incriminating. Sure, Remus could help to smooth things over, but... contrary to the impression Sirius often gave, he wasn't an idiot. He'd figure out that they were keeping something from him eventually. And if he didn't understand why, he'd be offended. Then there was Pettigrew... James sighed. Everything had been so much simpler a few months ago. It seemed like ever since Sirius had pulled that reckless stunt about the Whomping Willow, James just couldn't look at anything quite the same way.

Severus came into the room of requirement, his fingers stained with ink, his muggle clothes looking odd in the Wizard School castle. "Potter." He greeted, closing the door behind him. He wanted so badly to wipe the floor with him, after reading that letter. "Nice to see that you're punctual for once. Can't say the same for you son ..." He said moving to the middle of the room. "Okay, so let's face it ... I haven't dueled you in earnest in about twenty years ...let's see what you got." He said pulling his wand out.

James nodded civilly at Snape's greeting, and moved toward the center of the room. He shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I'm the one who raised him." Even knowing what he knew, the idea of his death a few years down the road seemed far off and unreal. It was only unsettling when he stopped to think about it. Better to just brush it off and move on.

He drew his wand, not taking his eyes off Snape for a second. There was no telling what this future war-veteran Snape with decades of experience on him had up his sleeve.

"No, you didn't ... but I'm sure if you did he would have turned out a whole lot worse." He said, not bothering to raise up his wand. He wondered how long it would take for Potter to become pissed off. This would be his first lesson. Control. He knew Potter had a wicked temper, and it impeded his actions. Harry was no different. Snape would have to teach James in order for him to teach an entire class.

"Oh really, now?" James rolled his eyes. "I didn't realize you were an expert in parenting. You know that for a fact, do you?" Was Snape trying to get to him? Or maybe catch him off guard with a hex in the middle of conversation? James kept his focus on Snape. At the moment, he wasn't more than a little irritated.

"I may not have had my own children, but I was sure as hell more involved in your sons life than you were." He said with a smirk. "Perhaps had I been smarter, I should have taken him under my wing. Really influenced his life ... Been the father you weren't." He said his smirk never wavering. "You know, the first time he came into my class, he was just roaring to impress me ... Sat right at the front, wrote down every single thing I said." He said remembering back to tearing The boy who lived down after that. Come on Potter ...take the bait.

"I bet you had I given him an ounce of positive attention he would have been eating out of the palm of my hand." He said his smirk widening into a grin. "I think I could have been a wonderful father, don't you?"

"Impedimenta!" James shouted, and even as he cast the spell, lunged forward in an unthinking fury, with every intention of punching Snape in his greasy, hook-nosed face. All thoughts of 'maturity' and 'focus' went completely out the window.

Severus barely moved, seemingly the jynx worked. Key word, seemingly. Severus didn't move and waited for Potters next move. Pitiful ... such a weak hex, he didn't even think he'd have had to block it as he had. Is that really all you got Potter? He thought to himself, knowing full well the boy could do much better than that. Just before the boys fist connected with his over large nose, Severus moved, his hand snaking past James' arm, a small burst of light blue light dusted through the air. Severus never made physical contact with James, but he knew it would be enough, and he smirked as he heard the clatter of wood hit the ground.

James hadn't even noticed Snape blocking his attack, and was completely unprepared for the sudden movement. Before he even had time to react, there was a burst of blue light, and his hand... did something. In an instant, there was this bizarre sensation in his hand, like a lump under his skin, and his fingers spasmed of their own accord, losing their grip on his wand, which clattered uselessly to the floor.

What the hell had Snape just done? He'd never even seen anything like that. Quickly, he went for his wand. His hand seemed to be working just fine now... Whatever Snape had done, it had been in pretty close range, so he moved back warily. Of course, there was no guarantee that the same strange attack wouldn't work just as well from a distance. He had no idea what he was dealing with. Embarrassed and angry, James retaliated with a disarming spell.

Snape allowed his wand to be pulled from his hand and heard it clatter across the floor. He paid it no mind as he stood before James, walking slowly around the angered boy. "Is that all you got? Please, your son dueled better in his second year than you do." He said knowing the man's anger fueled him right now. Good. Snape would teach him a good lesson in humility and control and then they'd actually be able to start seriously tomorrow morning before his next exam.

"Come at me again Potter." He said teasingly. "Let's see what your puny magic can do."

Really? Was Snape so fixated on being insulting that he wouldn't even bother to pick up his damn wand? And yet people said James was arrogant! Whatever Snape had up his sleeve, he wouldn't be able to accomplish much if he couldn't move. Then he'd be the one feeling stupid. James threw a Petrificus Totalus Snape's way, followed up quickly by a Confundus and a somewhat mean-spirited Furnunculus. Snape may have brushed James's first attack off like it was nothing, but he could only block so quickly.

Severus moved forward using wandless magic to block the first two spells as he ran forward, spinning to dodge the last one. When he finished the spin he crouched down low on the ground and lunged at James, swiping once, twice, thrice, four times, each swipe of his hand in a different spot, blue flashes of light fading in and out. But snape never once touched James.

Wandless magic? Wordless wandless magic? When the hell had Snape learned to perfect that? Stupid question, really, but the shock was still there. And damn could Snivellus move fast! James tried to move back as Snape lunged for him, but that weird feeling that had affected his hand earlier hit him again and again just the same; apparently Snape didn't need to actually touch him for this technique to work. Now, while Snape was too busy doing... whatever the hell he was doing... to block, James once again tried a PetrificusTotalus... but the spell came out pathetically weak, as if something was blocking his magic.

James glared at Snape and tried again. God damn it, he didn't care how many years ahead in experience the bastard might be, James was not going to lose this easily to Snivellus!

Severus didn't stop. He kept moving gracefully around James almost as if he were dancing. His technique was sloppy but effective. He swiped an additional thirty two times. "If you want me to stop Potter I suggest you figure out what I'm even doing to you." He said swiping out five more times.

"Consider this lesson one."

Any attempt at magic now was ineffective, and getting out of range was impossible; it wasn't just his magic that was weakening. A couple of times, James gave up and tried to just hit him, but that was even more pathetic. With every swipe, James's movements grew slower, weaker, less coordinated, as if he were in an advanced stage of exhaustion. It was an effort now to even stand up.

"You smug bastard," James snarled, frustration and wounded pride starting to mingle with worry. There was just no defense against what Snape was doing. As disturbing an idea as it was, this was completely beyond James's experience level.

"I'll give you props for still standing Potter ... But you won't be able to for much longer ... Tell me what I'm doing Potter. Even your son would have been able to figure it out by now." He said walking around him, honestly surprised James was even still holding his wand.

At this point, James was only able to keep upright out of sheer stubborn determination not to collapse in front of Snape. He gritted his teeth in frustration and embarrassment. At least no one else was here to see this.

"Clearly," said, annoyed. "You're doing something to block my magic."

Severus continued to walk around him slowly, his wand still on the ground across the room. "How am I blocking your magic Potter? As we all know, blocking someone's magic is impossible."

"Well apparently you bloody well can," James snapped. He was having to focus all of his effort just to stay standing; trying to puzzle out an entirely foreign and impossible form of magic was a little beyond him at the moment. No doubt Snivellus was just loving this, circling around like some melodramatic vulture, able to strike again at any moment and there wasn't a damn thing James could do about it...

"Okay," James forced himself to think. "Not blocking, then. So... my magic is still there, it's just... diverted somehow from its usual course so I can't use it?"

"A bit more accurate." He said pausing behind Potter. "Lay down ... Rest ... We'll pick it up again once you've recovered ..." He said knowing it won't take more than an hour for James to recover from his attacks.

It was at that point that James just couldn't stay upright any longer. His legs gave way under him, and he collapsed to the floor. He cursed under his breath. Any feeble attempt at getting back up would just end up looking pathetic, and would take more effort than it was worth. Right now, the humiliation he felt at showing such weakness was outweighed by sheer exhaustion.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll just do that then." There would be no way to live this down when dealing with Snape afterwards. At least no one else would ever know.

Severus sat down against a pillar in the room. It was a few minutes before he spoke. "Look ... I'm not doing this to humiliate you, so you can get that snarl off your face. I am not a school boy Potter, I haven't been in a long time. I am a school teacher, and I am teaching you. So when I call you arrogant, big headed and easy to anger, it's not an attack on you! It's to teach you ... You will never improve your faults if you don't acknowledge what those faults are!"

He stared at Potter. "If I wanted to do any real damage to you I'd have done it a long time ago."

That last part at least was true. Something in Snape's tone and his stare made James more than sure of it. In fact, if Snape really wanted to do some real damage, now would have been a perfect opportunity. It wasn't like there was anything James could do to defend himself. Somehow, that almost made things worse. He was pathetically helpless because Snape was the better duelist, and completely safe because Snape had the gall to act like the better man. James was quiet for a long moment.

"And no one knows my faults like you, right?" He rolled his eyes. "I get it. You're just making a point. But don't pretend you don't get at least a little satisfaction from being so superior."

"I get no pleasure in being superior to anyone. I was thrust into that position by Dumbledore himself, and I couldn't have hated it more." He said thinking back to being Headmaster of Hogwarts. "I'm not a leader nor do I enjoy being in control or 'superior' as you put it. I'm more of a follower who appreciates the occasional 'thank you' ... I don't get pleasure by being above someone ... Especially someone who is on the same side I am on." He said watching James lay on the floor. "You think you may know me, but you don't ... You've made assumptions about me due to my house, but that's all they are ... Assumptions. I won't claim to be a nice person because I'm not ... I'm a down right bully when I want to be ... But that does not mean I think myself above anyone else ..."

He paused and thought about if he should continue. "To be rather honest Potter ... I grew up with abusive parents who neglected me, and the only friend I have is Lily, who up until I came back here thought rather low of me and the path I was following ... I had no one to raise up my confidence or tell me I was doing good. No one who gave a shit about my accomplishments, what I did ... Whether I lived or died so to be honest, I have a rather low opinion of my self-worth ... Think me still superior?"

James stared. "Oh come on," he said. "You put on airs just like anyone else in Slytherin. I've seen you sneer and scheme as well as any of them. Evans may have been an exception to you, but I've seen you laugh when your Slytherin compatriots put some Muggle-born in their place. And you still started following that same path, whatever your reasons. Now tell me, exactly what other assumption could I possibly make? And if you came from such an abusive home, then why the hell would you be telling me?"

Working together to bring down Voldemort was one thing. But after their history together, James sincerely doubted that Snape would suddenly start confiding traumatic personal information to him now.

Snape looked up at him. "What? You don't believe me?" He asked, knowing that Potter wouldn't. He'd love to see the stricken look on Potters face when he proved him otherwise.

"Of course not!" James snapped, angry now. "I've known people who come from that kind of home life, and not a single one of them would confide that to just anyone, let alone someone they've hated for years! I don't know what kind of game you're trying to play here, but no, I don't believe you."

"You don't believe me?" Snape asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Did I stutter?" James asked clearly annoyed.

Severus stood and pulled the top few buttons of his shirt open and pulled the white material over his head, showing Potter the various scars all over his body. He spun around slowly, his arms out to the sides.

"So I suppose I'm just a klutz then huh?" He asked. He moved closer to Potter and turned his back on him. "I suppose every single one of those belt lash scars is a lie hmm?" He asked. "Wanna know how I got em?" He asked though he started to tell him before Potter could reply. "The lightest ones I got when I was three, you know what I did to deserve them? I didn't get my father a beer from the fridge fast enough cause I wasn't tall enough to reach the handle. The second I got when I was four ... He decided it would be a good idea to teach me how to play football ... He kept hitting me in the face with the ball over and over until I used accidental magic and made his autographed ball explode. He beat me for that despite the fact that the ball broke my nose and he kept kicking it at me anyway ... My nose isn't hooked due to genetics. The next was because my father didn't pay the electricity bill so the power was turned off. He had nothing but warm beer so he decided to blame me for it. I was five. The next I argued with him that I wanted to go to Hogwarts instead of a 'Decent normal school' like he wanted me too!"

He turned around. "This I got when he decided to shove me through our stair bannister ... But hey, that was my fault as well, so he beat me for that too ..." He said his face red with anger. He pointed to his arm where there was a white round scar. "How about this? Looks awfully like a cigar burn doesn't it? See this is what you get in the Snape house hold for spilling paint in the back yard ... Did ... I ... Stutter?" He asked using wandless magic to pull his wand into his hand.

James stared in speechless shock. Snape had heavy scarring everywhere, some of it old and faded and some... not. James winced when Snape told him the age he'd been when he received each scar. James went pale by the time Snape got to his nose. How many times had James and his friends thoughtlessly mocked Snape's nose? Worse, James himself had repeatedly ridiculed that feature in public. James had started to realize lately that he'd been a bit of an asshole, but confronted with this information, he felt like a complete monster.

It began to sink in that, with a father that violent, and from that early on, Snape was lucky to be alive.

Other details began to dawn on him, through the initial shock. Fridge? Football? Electricity bill? James's eyes widened. Snape's dad was a Muggle. And probably a poor one at that. How had that never occurred to him? James had always assumed Snape came from some particularly snobbish, ancient, mansion-dwelling pureblood family. His affinity for the Dark Arts and his apparent loathing of... well... everything... had always seemed to support that. Even Sirius had thought that, and he knew the type better than anyone. But then, James had heard that non-pureblood Slytherins always pretended otherwise, to keep up appearances. Sirius had mentioned that his mother was always gossiping vindictively about which families' blood wasn't as pure as they let on. It only made sense, then, that someone like Snape would conform to the Slytherin image. No wonder Snape was always so bitter toward everyone and everything.

"I..." James stammered, not wanting to look anymore at Snape and his scars, but unable to make himself look away. "I never thought..."

He looked on uneasily as a clearly furious Snape wordlessly summoned his wand.

"Of course you never thought ... As you said, why would I tell you? Not even Lily knew until this summer when I showed up on her door step near death. I spent a week in the hospital over the summer ... And think how much worse that is when you KNOW you can stop him but due a technicality of my current age I couldn't do shit about it ..." He said furiously.

"You're becoming a leader Potter! It is now your job to think ... Everyone's actions and reasons have purpose. The way they walk, the way they talk, the way they sit, the way they hold a fork and knife, shift their eyes, gesture, even how they sleep has purpose. You are a child by law but you are no longer a child in this war ... You are going to be playing a part just as large as I am ... And ready or not I will teach you how to be that leader!" He said pulling his shirt back on.

James looked away, ashamed. He wouldn't have wished that kind of life on anyone, even... well... Snape. He understood now why Snape was telling him this. Once again, he was making an important point. And James wouldn't be able to brush this off, ignore it, or forget it. He wished that he could. What Snape had just said terrified him. James had thought of himself as good leadership material, but he'd been so damned self-absorbed that it had severely impaired his ability to read people. And with disastrous consequences. That wasn't even taking Pettigrew into account. If James just continued to act on his first assumptions, he was going to get everyone killed.

"I get it," he said quietly. "I'm an asshole and I have a lot to learn."

"No ... You're young ... And you have a lot to learn. You have done nothing different than what any other child, including myself, has done." He said. "Now ... Get your lazy ass off the floor and let's do this again." He said holding his wand before him.

"Right," James said, relieved that this conversation was over. He was also glad that he didn't have to apologize. Not only would it be awkward after all of these years, but he didn't think mere words would mean much to Snape anyway. And he still didn't like the bastard. Even if he did grudgingly respect him.
He picked up his wand and got to his feet, a little stiff, but otherwise recovered.

"So," he said. "How the hell did you do that, anyway?"

Severus paused. "Are you really looking for a verbal lesson Potter? I thought you were more of a 'learn the hard way' type of guy." Severus joked as the room of requirement produced a chalk board nearby indicating James was seriously curious as to how he'd done it.

"Oh, don't start having a sense of humor now," James said. "My worldview's been challenged enough for one day."

For one thing, he was disturbingly close to thinking of Snape as a human being. And there was just no going back from that.

He gestured to the chalkboard. "You're the teacher here. Teach away."

Severus used his wand to pull up a piece of chalk and used his magic to create the form of a person on the chalk board. He created a bunch of dots on the person spanning throughout the body. "What these points here, are Chakra points. Chakra is essential to even the most basic technique; it is the moulding of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. Once moulded, it can be channelled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, which is why we channel magic through our wands, it's held in our hand, the chakra can then be controlled and manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire or creating illusions."

"By moulding different ratios of the two energies, new colours and much stronger types of chakra can be formed. Most wizards have a natural affinity to one type of chakra, for example, mine is Water, but they have the capacity to create elemental chakra apart from their own affinity. There are five basic types, each stronger and weaker to another, but their relations, weaknesses, and strengths to each other are all explored. In addition to these five elements, certain wizards can mix elemental chakra to form new natures, for example it is possible to mix water and wind into ice. While many wizards can use more than one type of chakra, very few are able to use them simultaneously."

James crossed his arms, looking from the diagram on the board to Snape. What Snape was telling him seemed more like magic theory than spellwork, but as Snape had already demonstrated, it clearly had a direct practical application.

"That makes sense," he said, nodding. "So, basically you did something to my Chakra points that messed with the Chakra circulatory system? Also, why have I never heard of this before? It seems like it could be kind of useful to know."

"Not a lot of wizards even know about it. It's mostly studied in Asian wizarding schools where they don't even use wands. What I was doing to you was sloppy at best ... but effective. I was focusing my chakra into your body, essentially over loading your chakra points and causing them to collapse temporarily. It stops the flow of chakra. I had missed quite a bit, because I don't know where your chakra points are. They are different for each person. So I had used up a lot more of my own chakra to do what little damage I did to you. With what I did to you, I had maybe two or three more spells left in me before I'd have to rest. Which is why I called a break ... it wasn't only for you.

"It is effective ... but it's also very tiring because you're not only stopping their chakra, but you're depleting your own as well. If I learned what they call 'white eyes', then I would be able to effectively see your chakra points and target them specifically using up less of my chakra."

It was somewhat comforting to know that Snape had actually expended significant energy in wiping the floor with him. From James's perspective, it had all looked far too easy. "So, what you did might not be the best idea in a situation where you're outnumbered," James pondered. "But you still incapacitated me pretty damn effectively, and in a way most wizards would be completely unprepared for." And therefore just as unable to defend against as James had been.

He frowned. "Are you studying this 'white eyes' technique?" From the sound of it, someone who could do that would be virtually unstoppable. Imagining Snape with that ability was borderline terrifying. It was a good thing he was on their side.

"But I take it you weren't just stabbing in the dark, though?" James asked. "Are there some general areas that tend to contain chakra points on most people?"

"I was taking a stab in the dark yes." He said. "I don't know where your chakra points are, but there are enough of them that I can pretty much hit one by thrusting my chakra into your body. Though there's no guarantee to hit." He said. "chakra takes time and a great deal of training to gradually build up. Thus, the key is not actually having chakra, but being able to sufficiently control and conserve it. Everyone has chakra, even muggles, but only skilled wizard can correctly "mould" and "manipulate" it to its fullest extent.

"Moulding chakra involves the extraction of energies from both the body's cells and the mind's consciousness, then mixing them together within the individual. The amount of each energy will differ based on the type of technique the wizard wishes to execute. In other words, a wizard could create too much or too little chakra for a given technique, resulting in the chakra being used inefficiently. In addition, even if a wizard is able to mould the correct amount of chakra, if they cannot manipulate the chakra properly, the desired technique will not be as effective or will not execute at all. Wasting energy will also create weaknesses like early exhaustion, which would hinder the wizard's capacity to fight long-term battles. Would you like to see a demonstration?"

"Alright," said James, somewhat apprehensively. After all, Snape's last 'demonstration' had ended with James collapsed on the floor. But this was all getting a little bit abstract, and another practical example would be helpful. And he had to admit Snape seemed to know what he was doing.

The room developed a test dummy. "I'll show you uncontrolled magic, which is what you are used to seeing, and then I will show you controlled." He said as he stood about ten feet away from it. "I'll use a favourite of your sons." He said holding his wand out and aiming at the dummy. "Expelliarmus!" He said loudly. Gold magic formed around his hand went up his arm and exploded forward and hit the dummy straight in the chest knocking it back. "Did you see the gold chakra from the spell I just used. That's excess chakra was not necessary to use, but most people don't know how to control that and in fact think it's normal."

He raised his wand, and said nothing. He closed his eyes a moment before he looked straight at the dummy. He barely moved his arm at all, but nothing seemed to project from his wand before the dummy was thrown back. "That, was a controlled spell, which can also be used without a wand in the same fashion."

James's eyes widened. Not only was it, according to Snape, a better and more efficient use of magic... but there was no visible colored chakra to indicate what sort of spell he was using, or when it was about to hit. And if used wordlessly, with minimal movement the way Snape had just done... an opponent wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late.

"I can see how that would give you a significant edge," he said. "But how do you go about controlling the amount of chakra used?"

"It is something you learn through experience, and won't be something you learn for quite a few years yet, if at all. But it is possible. Not all spells work like that though. Some are quite flashy even with minimal Chakra use. You can also focus your chakra into various parts of your body, not just your hand and wand ... Which is what I'll be teaching you how to do over the next few days. For example ..." Severus moved to a pillar in the room, and formed his hands into a series of patterns before the bottoms of his feet glowed a bright blue colour. Severus looked up at the pillar and put one foot onto the pillar, still focusing on his chakra. He slowly began to walk up the pillar, his feet sticking to the wall.

James stared. "Okay," he admitted. "That's just flat-out impressive." Almost impressive enough to make him forget who he was talking to. "I take it there are combat applications for that as well?"

Snape, who was walking up the pillar with his hands in his pockets looked at him and did a back flip off the pillar, landing on the floor on his feet, which despite it being so high up, he seemed to land with little to no pain. "There is." He said though he didn't elaborate on it. "I wasn't going to start this until tomorrow, but it's still pretty early. Are you up for learning a new technique?" He asked.

James raised an eyebrow. Now Snape was just showing off... not that James really had room to talk.
"Yes," James answered, perhaps a little too quickly to conceal his excitement. But really, who wouldn't be eager to learn a skill like that?

"Pay attention, I'm only showing you this once." He said. He showed him the hand sign, which was really just three different hand formations. "Do that, it helps channel the type of chakra you need, once you feel it building in your chest, focus it down into your feet."

James nodded, and watched closely as Snape went through the hand formations. "Right," he said. "Like this?" He copied the formations himself.

"Yes." Snape said walking to his bag. He pulled out a black and silver dagger with green gems in the hilt. "Don't look at me like that, it's not mine." He said, sticking the blade between his teeth to free his hands. He did the hand gestures and walked up the pillar towards the unnaturally high ceiling, the knife back in his hand. Once he was about four feet from the top he took the knife and left a nice deep gash in the wood. He turned and slid down the pillar, his feet flat against the wood, his hands back against the pillar. He used his chakra to slow down his fall. Once he was back on the ground he handed the blade to James.

"I want you to practice that technique. It'll be the first one you teach. In addition, I will leave you a text book on chakra points and systems. I want you to read over it." He said heading to his bag agin. He pulled out a text book and left it on a table for James to take later.

James certainly did have to raise an eyebrow at the site of that green and black gem-encrusted dagger. The knife practically screamed 'old money Slytherin.' And if it wasn't actually Snape's, whose the hell was it? And how had it ended up in Snape's bag? Had it been lent to him? Or had Snape taken up pickpocketing his fellow House members? Neither would have been that much of a surprise.

He watched as Snape once again walked up the pillar and used the knife to mark his progress. James took the blade when it was offered, determined to make it as far as Snape had by the time he was done. He noted where Snape placed the text book, and nodded.

"Got it," he said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. He didn't expect to get the hang of it instantly, but was bound and determined to have it covered by the time they continued their lesson tomorrow. If Snape could do it, James most certainly could learn to do the same.

"Get a good sleep tonight potter." He said picking up his bag. "We'll be picking up training again after my exam." He said heading towards the door. He reached to push the door open and paused. "Oh and Potter ..." He said waiting for him to look up. "For all the negative things I've said ... About your son ..." He said pausing again. "He was a very compassionate person ... I wasn't joking when I said I was not a kind person and a bully ... Because that's exactly what I was. I picked on him as often as I could, docked points for the littlest of things and put him down whenever possible.

I'm not proud of it. He hated me more than anyone else in that school, he'd been 100% certain that I was a death eater, and had taken over Hogwarts in his final year ... He had no reason to show me any type of compassion ... If anything he should have been the first to draw his wand at me. He should have been the one to let me die alone ... But he didn't. When I was bleeding to death in the shrieking shack he had no reason to come to me ... But he did. And when he looked at me, it wasn't with hatred. It was with fear." He looked down a laughed slightly.

"Fool even tried to stop the bleeding." He laughed again. "Like it would have done anything ... But despite everything I'd done ... He didn't let me die alone." He said looking back up at James. "I don't know anyone else who would have done that."

James looked up when Snape said his name, suddenly speaking far too hesitantly for this new, confident Future Snape. Even when he'd talked about his abusive father, Snape hadn't hesitated like he did now. Yet he was confiding things that the old Snape never would have. Even five minutes ago, James wouldn't have expected him to suddenly turn around with a positive word for his son. Compassionate? When had Snape ever spoken that way about anyone? And why was he telling James that he'd mistreated his son? Was he supposed to blame him? To be angry? To somehow feel less guilty, knowing that Snape hadn't been perfect either? At the moment, James didn't have it in him to feel any of those things. Though he had no idea why.

Not sure where Snape was going with this, James just listened in silence, staring back at that face that had so often looked back at him in hatred, and waited until he had finished speaking.

A moment of silence hung in the air. How was James supposed to react? Clearly it meant something to Snape that James's son had been there. But... it wasn't anything James could have ever imagined himself doing. Not in the same situation, anyway, with so many reasons to hate him. It... stunned him somehow to hear that.

James swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. What the hell? How had that gotten there?
"I don't know anyone else who would have done that either," James said quietly. "But... I'm glad someone did."

"I wasn't telling you that for my sake ... I had known for years I was going to die alone ... To be honest it was something I'd come to terms with before even coming to Hogwarts. I was telling you that because despite how negatively I speak of him ... He did have good qualities." He did not need to make it so obvious that Snape was talking about James in comparison. Perhaps Harry's compassion came from his mother, but James had his own good qualities.

James stared. Was Snape saying what James thought he was saying? Obviously, James had never known Snape as well as he'd thought, but he was still fairly certain the man was never in the habit of saying people had 'good qualities.' Let alone anyone connected to James.

Admittedly, that kind of compassion wasn't really a trait James felt he had any claim to. Maybe the kid really had turned out better than he would have if James had been around to influence him. But... that didn't seem to be Snape's point at the moment.

After a moment, James said: "Maybe he managed to see some good qualities in you too."

"At the time ... I doubt it." He said finally walking from the room and down the hall. He was going to head to his room to study, not for his exams, but study the 'white eyes' technique.

James wasn't so sure about that. The kid may not have known what side Snape was on, but at the very least, the man was one hell of a wizard... which was going to annoy James to no end if he couldn't find a way to catch up.

James set to work on that technique, going through the hand formations and trying to focus. It took a lot longer than he'd predicted to feel the chakra gathering in his chest, and it was several hours before he was able to move the chakra down into his feet. He'd keep losing his concentration, and the chakra would dissipate and he'd have to start all over again. A few times, he got impatient and tried to move the chakra too fast, and not all of it seemed to make it to his feet. He kept reminding himself that it didn't matter how easy Snape had made it look, James was still a beginner at this, it was going to take time, that was just how learning worked...

When he finally got enough chakra into his feet to produce that telltale blue glow, and was able to focus enough to keep it there, he picked up the knife, and started to try to move up the pillar... and didn't make it two steps before he lost concentration on keeping the chakra in his feet, and fell. He was at this for hours and hours on end, sometimes making even less progress than before because he got frustrated enough to lose concentration entirely. He lost track of the times he fell on his ass. It didn't matter. He wasn't leaving this room until he met the goal that Snape had set for him. If Snape could do it, he could. It didn't matter how much experience Snape had, he'd known James was a beginner at this, and if James failed to meet the goal Snape set for a beginner, he'd never be able to live it down. He could do this, dammit.

He was at it all night, never making it any farther up the pillar than just barely halfway, eventually falling asleep against the pillar in the early hours of the morning.

((A/N – Merry Christmas – a nice long chapter for you all for the Holiday Season – yes we took a lot of references for this from another show – deal with it – there will be more references to come. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter despite the LOOOONG winded lesson. And as always please leave a review))