The answer was no. He could not distance himself from the boy. As he opened the door of his quarters that night he knew it would be him. He opened the door and narrowed his eyes at the empty doorway. The brat's head materialised out of thin air. He looked ready to argue with him as to why he should be allowed in for the answers to his questions, a frown already set in place.

He let him ramble on, only because he was taking a moment to take in just how much the boy actually looked like his retched father. His face was a constant reminder of the self-absorbed abomination that ruined his most treasured friendship and took the only happiness from his life.

And then he was also a constant reminder of that glimmer of light that had filled his mid-childhood memories with happiness and laughter. The green eyes, yes, but also the boy's hands. His hair, in a way was a memento of his mother. The reason it refused to obey gravity or any attempt at hair styling. In her it matched with her wavy dark-red hair whilst in the boy it caused the Potters' straight hair to seem unruly.

What got him every time though, were not his eyes or his hair. It was her expressions in his face, the way he frowned with determination as he gave his explanation, which Severus was not listening to. He'd also noticed it in the way the idiotic Gryffindor smiled, though he'd rarely focused on the boy's happiness until this year. A year when he had rarely been happy. Those rare instances when he'd heard the boy's laughter he'd had to pause and occlude as it jostled too many memories.

And he knew that he no longer protected the child because of his promise to Dumbledore. No. Seeing Lily in the boy made the potions master want to protect everything that still lived of her in him.

"So you have to-"

"You look so much like your mother…" He didn't realise he'd spoken out loud until the boy's determined expression melted away into a look of surprise and then yearning. Too easy to read.

"…what?" He asked softly. "You mean my eyes." He mumbled, looking confused.

Severus realised he couldn't take the words back, and he couldn't continue talking to the boy in the doorway. He also had to talk to the boy about the snake's intrusion so he stepped out of his way, the boy instantly coming inside.

"In other ways too." He said coming into the parlour, Potter sitting in the lounge chair he'd slept on while he was ill, naturally gravitating towards it.

"You knew her?"

"Yes, well… your charming father and I were in the same year. As you obviously know, your mother was in the same class as he." He said pretending to be sorting the scrolls on his coffee table.

The boy started playing with his nails, eyes fixed on them. "How am I like her?" Perhaps he should have kept quiet.

"She was… very opinionated. Your expressions are very much like the Lily Evans I remember. You also share the same laugh as her." He said, keeping his tone neutral and occluding any emotion. When he looked up Potter was staring straight at him. What more did he want? "Your hair also."

"Huh? My mom had red hair." He said.

"Yes, but yours is always a mess because of her. Her type of hair was better suited for the unruliness I suppose." He shrugged.

"…You… noticed that?" He asked grabbing some of his hair looking at the ends of a strand. The boy's hair was getting long again. Time to re-direct the conversation. "You also share a dangerous trait of kindness."

"Kindness is not dangerous, professor." He argued.

"It is when it blinds us to the darkness in others. Draco Malfoy, for example." He said. Potter, less cunning than the blonde, shrugged, assuming Draco had told Severus.

"It's not a bad thing to give others a chance. Even a git like Malfoy… there are bigger things to worry about." He was too easy to milk for information. What a disaster it would have been to allow him into the Order when the boy first stated his interest.

"Suddenly you're friends with Mister Malfoy?" He asked. The boy scrunched his nose in annoyance and Severus pushed back the nostalgia it brought about as he remembered Lily's annoyed expression.

"I'm not that stupid. I'm letting him come to learn defence."

"What 'defence' is this?" Snape asked watching the boy, starting to get amused. Had the boy fallen into a giant cauldron of veritaserum before he came over here?

Potter looked a bit surprised that he had said what he said and looked away, focusing on the small embers in the fireplace. The potions master used his wand to direct another log into it.

"Wait, did you change the topic? I want to know more about my mom." Damnit, maybe he shouldn't underestimate the brat.

"Have you eaten? You have a nasty habit of skipping meals. You're much too short as it is." Maybe if he spoke to the boy as if he were a first year the other would get distracted enough to change the topic.

"One meal isn't going to kill me." Potter sneered much like the potions master often did. Was the scrawny Gryffindor trying to mock him?

"I will take that as a yes." He turned and had a house-elf bring the boy something to eat.

"I'm not hungry."

"You will eat nonetheless." He said dismissing the boy's opinion.

"Fine… but you have to tell me more about my mother. And nothing insulting." Potter clearly had no clue that Snape had nothing insulting to say about her.

"Very well. I am willing to accept the condition. Also I want to talk to you about what happened today." Potter grimaced as he grabbed the plate of food and he could not be sure whether it was due to the food or the second topic on the agenda. "What I mainly want to make clear is that you are under no circumstances to occlude. Your level of occlusion… could either block off the Dark Lord from your mind but render you helpless to attack or it could render you an empty vessel for the Dark Lord to easily manipulate."

Potter nodded, poking the food on his plate. "I understand…"

Severus relaxed slightly. He would take the boy's word for it. "Another thing I remember about your mother, was that she was excellent in potions."

At that the boy perked up and actually managed to take a bite of his food. "Really? Maybe she had a very good teacher." Severus clenched his jaw slightly and waited for the brat to swallow what he had in his mouth before giving him a firm smack to the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Finish your food. If you apply yourself in remedial potions maybe you'll come close to her level of skill." The boy was still rubbing the back of his head and he chose the time to browse through some scrolls on the wall.

"What was she like?"

"Hmm… I suppose like every Gryffindor she was brave and loyal to her friends." Unless the friend says something stupid he would forever regret. "Excellent in Charms… what else…"

"…professor?" He turned to look back at the boy, for a moment having gotten lost in thought. The boy eyed him curiously. "You have a lot of nice things to say about her… compared to my dad that is."

"I'm a scholar. I can appreciate hard-work and dedication… and sacrifice."

"And my dad? He was good in transfiguration and quidditch."

He found himself getting angry hearing good things being said about that bastard. "Your father was a self-absorbed, arrogant-" He stopped as he heard his harsh tone of voice, and as he saw the boy ready to jump to the man's defence.

"My fa-"

"Everyone has darkness inside them Potter! Just because your father was apparently a saint to those who've told you about him so far doesn't mean he-!"

"My father was not evil! He fought for the light!"

"Nothing is that simple you foolish child! There is no good and evil! There is only-"

"-power… wow." The boy said in a whisper. Severus felt his throat tighten. He'd just regurgitated one of those blasted quotes from the Dark Lord himself. He wouldn't have normally cared. So why did he care now what the brat thought of him.

"I've said what I wanted to tell you and you've finished your food. It's time for you to return to your dormitory."

"Are you sending me to my room, Snape?" The boy asked mockingly, clearly angry still. Severus grabbed the book the headmaster had given him with his notes and amendments to the standard books of potions.

"Yes. Read the chapter on year five and then backwards if you don't understand." He said, too tired to fight with the boy now. Potter accepted the book and looked as if he were debating with himself on whether he should continue arguing or not.

"What did my father ever do to you?" The brat mumbled. Severus wanted to tell him exactly the kind of person the boy's father was but reminded himself that James Potter was already dead. He would only be hurting the boy by telling him the truth. Either that or the boy would refuse to believe him entirely.

"Nothing Potter. I'm a Slytherin, I'm by nature bitter and hateful. Forget I said anything." The boy frowned but eventually let out a sigh. Maybe the boy too didn't want things to get bad between them again.

"You're not that bad."

"Well you are, I cannot believe you have yet to even move toward the door." He said. The boy smiled a bit, clearly amused by his words.

"I'm going. I'm going."