Wow, thank you so much for the reviews!

I really enjoyed reading them and I'd have never expected to get so many, thanks again.

This is the 3rd chapter, a bit longer than the first two.

I've just noticed that he title of this chapter is similar to a title in OotP...well, anyway,

I hope you enjoy reading again.

Disclaimer: I think you know it by now...

Chapter 3 : stag and snake

Harry sat in his favourite armchair near the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.

He stared at the photograph of his father James and Snape that he had repaired some days ago.

He saw more and more details on it, for example his father's hand on Snape'd shoulder, or that Snape wore robes that seemed to be quite old and shabby.

But most of it, he couldn't ignore the way they smiled on the photo, it were two true smiles.

smiles that you wouldn't have on your face if your worst enemy stood next to you.

But why had nobody ever told him?

Well, he knew that Snape couldn't talk to him, because he resembled his father in so many things.

But what about Sirius?

He had been James' best friend, his father would have told him...or wouldn't he?

Hadn't Sirius trusted him, Harry?

Had he thought Harry was a little child that couldn't accept the truth?

That couldn't accept his father was friends with Snape?

No...that couldn't be...Sirius had trusted him, he had been the one telling him about the things Voldemort was up to do, he had risked his life for him, and, at last, he had died for him.

But...perhaps Sirius hadn't been able to accept it himself.

That could be.

Sirius...he missed him so much, even more than he missed his parents.

He had seen his parents when he was a baby, he didn't know them, but he knew Sirius!

Sirius had done so much for him, he had been his closest friend, even closer then Ron, and the one that had Harry loved as if he was his son...until he died.

Harry had so much questions?

Why hadn't he ever asked Sirius to tell him more stories about his father or about his time with the marauders?

Or just what his favourite meal was?

Now it was to late, Sirius couldn't answer Harry's questions anymore, and never again...

"HARRY!!", he heard somebody yelling, obviously standing far away.

"Huh?"

It was Ron who had shouted, and he didn't stand far away but next to him.

"What's up with you, mate? I've yelled at you twice, have you been sleeping?"

"Er...I dunno."

"Do you feel alright Harry?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, then you should have left about 10 minutes ago, Occlumeny."

"Oh damn it!"

Harry hurried down the staircases leading to the dungeons.

Snape still gave him Occlumency lessons, though he had said that Harry should never enter his office again.

Could it be that he did it because he wanted Harry to be well-prepared when he had to face Voldemort again?

Did he want to have an eye on him?

When Harry thought about it, Snape had really tried to save him quite a few times.

Did he want to protect him?

Did he really meant something to Snape?

No, Dumbledore might just have forced Snape to do it again...or was he completely wrong?

He hadn't any more time to think about that, because he stood in front of Snape's office door now.

He knocked at it.

"Come in.", snarled Snape.

He sat behind his desk, obviously waiting for Harry.

"You're late."

"Yeah, I've been...fast asleep."

"Indeed? Then I hope that you're not as bad as last time, now that you've had some rest. Ready?"

Harry wasn't ready, his mind was so full of questions and thoughts, how could he be ready?

What could he do now?

What would Snape do if he would be able to enter his mind and see him, standing next to his father?

How could he explain that he knew they'd been friends at school, though everybody, including Snape himself, had told him that his father had been Snape's greatest enemy.

"Are you sleeping again, Mr Potter? Or don't you want me to see your sad thoughts about your father or about Sirius Black? Do you think I'll see you cry this time?"

"I'm glad to tell you that you made me hating you successfully. I really do hate you."

Now, just for a split second, but long enough for Harry to notice, Snape had looked at him in shock.

But then, he continued to speak in his ordinary soft and silky voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't want to spend the whole evening with you, Mr Potter, especially as I really doubt that you'll ever learn to do Occlumeny properly. Anyway, are you ready then?"

There was no choice for Harry, so he only nodded.

"Well, then, take your wand out...alright...1 - 2 - 3. Legilimens!"

Everything went dark, Harry tried to concentrate hard on keeping his mind empty, but he was nervous.

What if Snape got into his mind?

Would he see the picture?

Would he see him hiding in a corner in that corridor?

Then, Harry saw pictures...

Sirius was fighting against Bellatrix Lestrange...he knew what would happen know.

He didn't want to see that again!

He had dreamt of it so often, he had seen Sirius die so many times...not again!

Never again!

"PROTEGO!", Harry yelled at once.

This had worked once before, Harry thought, and now it would work again!

It had to work again!

Then...he saw two animals...walking across the grounds of Hogwarts, or gliding, as one of the animals was a snake, towards the Forbidden Forest.

The other one was in the shadow of a tree in the moment, it seemed to be big.

But as they passed the tree, Harry could take a look at the other animal...

Harry's eyes widened, there, walking next to the snake, was a great stag, but not only an ordinary one...but his father.

"STOP IT!!", he heard Snape yelling.

Everything went dark at once, before he found himself lying flat on the floor once again.

Had that animal in Snape's mind really been a stag?

Had it really been his father?

But then, as he got up from the floor, he saw that he didn't seem to be the only one that had been lying there.

He saw Snape getting up, too, before he was going to an armchair near the fireplace and sat down.

That was odd, in the Gryffindor common room he sat there preferably, too.

"What are you standing there, Potter? You're dismissed."

"But what – "

"I told you that you're dismissed, so why are you still standing there? You waste my time, Potter, leave!"

Harry went to the door, he opened it and was about to leave, but then, he didn't now why, he looked back at Snape.

There was a little drop on Snape's cheek.

At first sight, he expected it to be sweat, but as he looked back at Snape once again, and saw the sad expression on his face, he wasn't too sure anymore.

Harry got out of the office and shut the door behind him, feeling as guilty as he had done the first weeks after Sirius' death, and as he perhaps still did.

He thought about everything that had happened in the past few month, and about the things that had happened in Snape's office.

At last, he wasn't sure if he was responsible for Sirius' death, but he was actually responsible for making a man cry...