Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Thanks for sticking with this story! Reviews are welcome! =)

"What did Professor Lupin want?" Hermione asked as Harry joined them in the corridor. She and Ron had been waiting for him.

"Just to talk about extra training in defence for me," Harry muttered. What did he have to do to get Remus to forgive him? Or maybe he didn't deserve forgiveness for what happened to Sirius...

"He's going to train you? That's pretty brilliant," Ron said. "As long as he isn't a git like he was in class today."

"No, he apologized for that," Harry said vaguely. He wasn't going to tell them that Remus had indeed been a git again during their talk. He wasn't sure he was going to take Remus up on his offer for extra lessons, yet he could use them.

"We should go to the library and get started on our homework before dinner," Hermione said.

"Isn't after dinner soon enough?" Ron complained.

"No."

Harry wondered if Luna would be in the library and agreed to go, his heart a little hopeful that the pretty Ravenclaw would be there.

"Harry," Lily met them before they reached the library. She smiled. "Getting started on homework already? What good students you are."

"Hermione's making us," Ron grumbled.

Hermione rolled her eyes while Lily laughed.

"How was your first day teaching?" Harry asked eagerly.

Lily's face lit up. "Oh, it was wonderful! I was nervous but the students were so great, for the most part anyway, and seemed eager to learn. Especially the first years, they are so amazed at everything they are shown. They loved learning the Wingardium Leviosa charm."

Harry exchanged a knowing grin with Hermione and Ron. "Yeah, that one holds a special place in our hearts." He said fondly.

"A very memorable lesson," Ron nodded.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "With you three, I can just imagine." She gave Harry a side hug. "I'll see you at dinner, I have a meeting Professor Flitwick."

"I wish we had class with your mum," Hermione said after Lily walked away.

"Me too," Harry said. "I bet she -" He was interrupted by a cold, slimy voice that he unfortunately recognized.

"So Potty thinks he so much more special now because he has his mummy," Draco sneered as he, Crabbe and Goyle passed them in the hallway. "Too bad Jenkins curse didn't fully hit her, slice her up more."

Harry stared at the blonde Slytherin, his emerald eyes darkening.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron snapped.

"Jenkins was expelled and may be facing Azkaban," Hermione said. "I doubt any professor would appreciate hearing you say that."

"Did you hear something?" Draco asked in pretend confusion. "It almost sounded like...a Mudblood."

"That's it," Harry didn't bother with a wand, he could take on Draco without one. He lunged at the boy and pushed him into the wall before hitting him in the stomach.

"Oof!" Draco doubled over. He glared up at Crabbe and Goyle. "Do something you stupid gits!"

Crabbe grabbed Harry and held him in place while Goyle punched him in the nose.

"Flipendo!" Hermione snapped out, causing Harry, Crabbe and Goyle to be knocked back, each landing on the floor. She kept her wand trained on Crabbe and Goyle while Ron had his on Draco.

"What is going on here?" Severus stalked down the hallway, looking at Draco clutching his stomach and Harry's bloody nose.

"Potter attacked me!" Draco whined. "He punched me in the stomach!"

"You called Hermione a Mudblood!" Harry shouted. "And said my mum should have been hurt worse! What kind of person are you?"

Draco just scowled at him.

"And those two beat up Harry," Ron said with a glare.

"And yet it is you and Miss. Granger who have their wands out on students," Severus sneered. "Twenty -five points from each of you. You are Prefects, you should know better. As for you Potter, thirty points from Gryffindor and detention with me. Now."

"He needs to go to the infirmary!" Hermione protested.

Severus ignored her. "Potter!" He snapped as he marched back to his office, sure the boy was following him. As soon as they entered, Severus shut the door and warded it. "What were you thinking?!" He exploded as he waved his wand over Harry's face, muttering a healing charm. He conjured a cloth and began wiping Harry's face with it.

"Sir, Severus, I can do that!" Harry protested, feeling like a little kid.

Severus just glared at him and banished the cloth once the blood was gone. "Explain."

"Draco stopped to tell me he wished mum had been sliced up more," Harry said angrily. "Draco was the one who called Hermione a Mudblood."

"Who instigated the fight?"

"Draco, with his words!"

"But physically?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we aren't supposed to duel in the corridors," Harry said flippantly.

"I wouldn't mouth off if I were you!" Severus hissed. "There is to be no fighting in the corridors at all. You got hurt! What if they had hurt you and your friends worse?"

"I had Hermione and Ron with me," Harry said.

"As competent as they are, well, as Granger is, I doubt they know anything close to the dark curses those boys have been taught." Severus said. He paced the floor in frustration. "You know who their fathers are, Harry. You know they are being groomed to be death eaters themselves."

"So what was I supposed to do? Walk away after Malfoy spouted off that claptrap?"

"Yes," Severus said. "I believe your mother and I talked to you about this before school started. Malfoy will say things to get you to react and every time you let him win!" He pointed at Harry. "You walk away and tell someone, your Head of House, your mother or me. Any adult."

Harry gaped at him. "Tell one of you that Draco said mean things? You can't even tell him to stop!"

"I will deal with Draco," Severus snapped. He would have to do it carefully but he would be having words with that brat.

"And they didn't even get into trouble!" Harry continued. "It's not fair! They can do and say anything and my friends and I lose points for doing something about it."

"You lost points for fighting, your friends lost points for having their wands out on other students," Severus said. He shook his head. "You know I have a role to play, I can't take points from the others but as I told you, I will deal with all three of them."

Slightly mollified, Harry just nodded glumly. "Fine," He said in a hurt voice.

"The detention I am about to assign you is for not ignoring Malfoy, as you were told to do this summer," Severus snapped.

"You're giving me a real detention?" Harry asked, slightly stung.

"Did you disobey? Did you start a fight?" Severus asked snidely.

"Was I provoked? Was I held down and punched?" Harry shot back.

"Being provoked is no excuse, you know you are going to be provoked!" Severus snapped. "I won't even bother to ask if you tried to Occlude," he said sarcastically.

"It all happened too fast," Harry muttered.

"You should be able to Occlude on a moment's notice, that is the goal," Severus lectured. "For the next week, after dinner every evening we will meet for Occlumency training."

Harry looked at him in confusion. "Is that my detention?"

"Yes," Severus said.

Harry relaxed. That wasn't like a real detention, he got to train and spend time with Severus. "Okay."

"I may also assign lines, I haven't decided yet," Severus mused. "Let's see... how about, there is no good reason to respond to someone whose only motive is to taunt you. Yes, five hundred of that might be helpful to you. You can turn them in at the end of the week."

Harry glared at his professor. "Can I go, sir?"

"No."

"No?" Harry sighed. "Why? Are you going to assign an essay too?"

"Do you want me to?" Severus asked pointedly. His gaze softened a bit and he gestured to a chair. "Take a seat, Harry."

Harry dropped into a chair, feeling a little put out.

"Do you truly not see what you did wrong?" Severus asked incredulously as he sat at his desk.

Harry opened his mouth to defend himself but the hesitated. "Okay, so I shouldn't have pushed and hit Malfoy," He grudgingly admitted. "Even if he had it coming."

Severus rolled his eyes.

"I should have kept walking, I guess," Harry said. "But I can't stand that prat and the hateful words that come out of his mouth. Plus we know he is up to something -"

"You will not be pursuing that," Severus said in a warning voice. "I will be keeping a closer eye on Malfoy."

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Severus said undoing the wards with a wave of his wand, still looking sternly at Harry.

Lily's head poked through, a frown crossing her face when she saw them. She entered and shut the door, moving aside so Severus could once again ward the door. " I was meeting with Filius when Pomona came in and said she heard a rumor that you beat Draco to a bloody pulp," Lily said lightly as she took the seat next to her son. "Another rumor is that Draco cast the Cruciatus on you. I decided, before I completely freaked out, I would find out the real story."

Severus leaned back and gestured to Harry. "Go ahead."

"It's not a that big of deal," Harry said to his mother. "My friends and I were walking and passed Malfoy and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy said it was too bad you weren't sliced up worse," Harry paused with pain in his eyes. "Then Hermione said something and he called her a Mudblood."

"Very cruel but not surprising," Lily said with a sigh, glancing at Severus for a moment. "This is how he always acts, is it not? Just like this past summer?"

"Yeah," Harry swallowed. "Well, I sort of lost it and may have pushed him and um, hit him in the stomach. Then he had his goons hold me and hit me. Hermione stopped them. She and Ron had their wands out to protect me," Harry gave a Severus a mild glare. "And Severus took points from them. And me."

Lily sat back and crossed her legs. "I see," She said quietly. "It is the rules that there is to be no fighting in the corridors and having your wands out shows intent to duel. However, it is in the rules that students have the right to defend themselves or respond to an emergency." She gave Severus a pointed look.

"I had to take the twenty-five points from Granger and Weasley, if I didn't my behavior would be reported to the Dark Lord," Severus said evenly.

"I'll make sure to return their points back to them," Lily said, tapping her fingers on the armrest.

"What about the thirty points he took from me?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Ah," Lily shook her head. "That was deserved, Harry."

Harry's mouth dropped open.

"You threw the first punch," Lily said in a disapproving voice. "You know better than that. You should have just kept walking. You have to be careful, Harry. Any children of Death Eaters would love to get a chance to hurt you or worse, render you unconscious and deliver you to Voldemort!" She stood up, pacing slightly. "It may seem unfair, but you can't give in to your temper. You can't rise to others taunting." She studied him. "You don't look hurt."

Harry touched his nose. "Severus fixed it."

Lily gently touched Harry's cheek. "If it is too difficult to have me teach here, with some making comments -"

"No, you have to stay!" Harry said in alarm.

"Of course I would stay, I would just pretend to leave," Lily assured him.

Harry shook his head. "Malfoy would make comments anyway."

"Hopefully returning to your Occlumency training will help you reign in your temper," Severus spoke up.

"How will you arrange those without anyone knowing?" Lily asked.

"He has detention for a week," Severus smirked slightly.

"And lines," Harry couldn't help but whine a bit.

Lily patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "You got off easy, little one."

Harry made a face at the endearment, even though he liked hearing it as his mother had called him that as a baby. He wouldn't admit that to anyone though.

/

"That was an awfully fair punishment," Hermione said when the trio was in their common room, studying by the fire. "Especially your mum giving Ron and I the points back."

"Yeah but she won't give me the thirty points Severus took back," Harry complained.

"Snape's a git, we all know that," Ron said as he flipped through his History of Magic text.

Harry gave him a dark look. "He's not a git but he was really upset with me. So was mum."

"Of course they were," Hermione said practically. "You started a physical fight."

"You heard what Malfoy said!"

"Yes and he has called me that before and likely will again," Hermione said, her tone gentling. "It doesn't bother me, Harry. I don't like or respect Malfoy so I don't care what he says. To me, every time he says stuff like that, it just shows how weak and cowardly he is."

"He shouldn't get to get away with saying it," Ron grumbled.

"He taunts us to get a reaction," Hermione said impatiently. "We can't react, it gives him what he wants."

"I know that!" Harry burst out. "But I can't help but get angry. And what he said about my mum... I just wanted him to shut up."

"Which is why we should have simply walked away," Hermione said.

Harry scowled. "I've already been lectured by my parents, Hermione."

Ron stiffened. "Mate, you really need to stop saying things like that."

"Ronald," Hermione said in a low tone.

"Things like what?" Harry asked.

"Your parents? Snape isn't your parent," Ron scoffed. "The git took points from you and gave you detention and lines. What parent would do that, even if they were also your teacher?"

"Your mother would," Hermione shot at him.

Ron shrugged and looked away. He couldn't argue with that, his mother would have made him scrub the entire castle with a toothbrush if she caught him starting a fight.

Harry stood up, picking up his books. "I'm going to turn in."

Hermione watched him go and then looked at Ron in exasperation. "When are you going to learn to keep your big mouth shut?"

"What did I do?" Ron protested. "Snape isn't his parent!"

"When are you going to get it through your thick skull that Harry cares about Professor Snape?" Hermione as she gathered up her own books and papers. "And that Professor Snape cares about Harry?"

Ron opened his mouth to protest again but she stomped off before he could. He scowled as he watched her leave. She was always getting angry at him and it was because of Harry. She likes him, he thought in frustration. They have feelings for each other, why don't they just bloody admit it?

/

The next morning, Harry had sent Ron and Hermione on ahead of him as he had to return to the Tower to get his Transfiguration book. Ron was acting strangely quiet and guessed he was still upset that Harry had referred to Snape as a parent. Harry didn't know what to think of it himself. He smiled at a few friends as he walked to the Great Hall and was about to turn a corner when his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled several steps back. "Hey!" He pulled his arm out of Remus's grip and glared at him, rubbing the spot that he had grabbed.

"Sorry," Remus muttered, running his hand through his hair. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Next time just call my name," Harry said with a frown. Remus was scowling at him. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Remus asked incredulously. "You pick a fight with a death eater's son and ask what's wrong?"

Harry sighed. "I've already been lectured about it by my paren – by my mum and Severus. Hermione too. I know it was stupid."

"It was incredibly stupid!" Remus exploded. "When will you start to think, boy?"

Harry flinched slightly, the term 'boy' reminded him of how his relatives had often referred to him. "Don't call me that."

"Listen, you have one job. To live long enough to kill Voldemort," Remus snapped. "Doing stupid things like fighting and putting yourself in dangerous situations needs to stop. Honestly, your father was brave and selfless as is your mother. Why aren't you?"

Stung, Harry spun on his heel and began walking away from the man he had once considered a friend and someone he could count on.

"Harry," Remus caught up with him. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just so concerned about you. I only say these things because I worry about you, you know that right?"

"You keep hurting my feelings," Harry said then winced inwardly when he saw another scowl form on Remus's face.

"We can't worry about your feelings, Harry. We are at war and everyone's lives depend on you being responsible! I heard you got detention for a week, how are we going to fit in defence training? Merlin forbid we get in the way of your Quidditch practice," Remus said sarcastically.

"I can meet with you after my detention, which is really Occlumency training," Harry shot back.

Remus sighed and nodded. "Of course, that is important too. I just want to help you. Meet me in the defence classroom after, I'll clear you being out past curfew with Minerva. All right?" He offered Harry a small smile.

Harry nodded. "Sure. Thanks." He watched Remus walk away, torn between feeling upset at how he had treated him and happy that he still wanted to train him.

/

He was following Malfoy into Knockturn Alley, he was watching Anderson throw a curse at his mum, Remus was staring at him in disappointment...

Harry finally managed to throw Snape from his mind, though it took all of his energy and he ended up on his hands and knees, breathing heavy.

"Well now, that was progress," Severus said in a pleased voice.

Harry stood up and nodded.

"Are you okay?" Severus asked. "Do you want a glass of water or juice?"

"No, I'm good," Harry said.

"Why was Remus looking at you that way?" Severus asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Huh? Oh, he was upset about my fight," Harry shrugged, not wanting to go into how Remus was acting. He looked at Harry in disappointment almost every time he saw him.

"I see," Severus said slowly. "Things are fine between you then?"

Harry gave a nod.

Severus wasn't convinced but decided to let it go. He checked the time. "Hour's up. You did very well, Harry."

"Thanks," Harry flopped down on a chair. "So my detention's over?" He asked sarcastically.

"It doesn't have to be," Severus said in a fake pleasant voice. "I always have cauldron's that need cleaning, for student's who give me an attitude."

Harry took a deep breath. "Sorry," He said after a moment.

"Are you still upset about getting detention?"

"No. At least I get to see you out of class," Harry said honestly.

Severus was touched that Harry wanted to spend time with him. It meant a lot, especially with how they used to feel about each other. How far we've come, he thought. "Is it the lines? I can give you an extension on them," Severus offered, surprised that the words came out of his mouth. Since when did he give extensions on the lines he assigned?

Harry smirked and bent over to pull out some papers from his bag. "Actually, I'm done. Here you go."

Severus stared down at the pieces of parchment, where indeed there were five hundred lines. He looked at Harry suspiciously. "You finished already?"

"I did most of them during History of Magic," Harry said casually. "It helped to keep me awake."

Severus rolled his eyes as he stood and walked into the kitchen. When he returned to the sitting room, he carried a tray with three mugs, a teapot and a variety of biscuits.

Harry noticed the three cups. "Are you expecting someone?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Harry was about to ask who it was when his mum entered through the floo and he grinned.

"Occlumency go well?" Lily asked as she sat next to Harry.

"He did extremely well," Severus said, handing her and Harry each a mug of hot tea. "Much progress has been made."

"Wonderful. I'm proud of you, Harry," Lily beamed.

"Thanks!" Harry said happily, loving the feeling of having them be proud of him. He started to take a sip of tea when his scar began to burn and he gasped in pain, his hand flying up to his scar. Before he was able to fully Occlude, he could make out Voldemort's anger and frustration.

"What? What's wrong?" Lily asked anxiously as she pulled Harry's hand down to see his scar was a vivid red.

"I have to go," Severus said as he stood.

"No, don't," Harry said pleadingly. "He's angry."

"He usually is," Severus said as he summoned his death eater robe and mask. He paused. "You are Occluding?"

"Yes," Harry said as he concentrated.

"Oh," Lily breathed in understanding. "Severus, please don't go. Don't spy."

"I can not stay and argue this," Severus said in frustration. "I must go."

Lily shut her eyes for a moment and then nodded. "Please be careful," She said softly.

"I will."

Lily put her arm around Harry as they watched him Floo away. "He will be all right." Lily said, as if assuring herself of it.

"He was hurt so badly last time," Harry whispered. What if he was hurt again? Or worse?

TBC: