Perhaps it shouldn't have come as so much of a shock, but it did. Harry had actually managed to pass his OWLs. With a decent grade, even, in all of his subjects, including Potions. Snape had kept his word – when Harry passed him in the corridor, he was ignored. Which, he had to admit, was an improvement over being sneered at and insulted. During his practical exam, Snape had allowed Harry to get on with it in peace, rather than slighting his technique at every opportunity. Of course, if Harry was accompanied by his friends, or if other people happened to be in the vicinity, especially Malfoy, then Snape returned to his old vicious self. But Harry was beginning to suspect that his mother might have been right when she suggested that Snape was a good guy, if not a nice one.
In between exams and revising, Harry had been reading his mother's diaries. In the last two weeks, he'd managed to cover her first two years at Hogwarts. It was fascinating to read about her many more meetings with his father, and with Sirius and Remus, about her Sorting and settling in. It was downright astonishing when he realised the quiet boy she'd met on the train was none other than the Dreaded Potions Master. As for the point where she first called Snape her friend and then referred to him as 'Sev', well, that resulted in Harry blinking at it in bemusement. Then when Ron called him down for dinner, he stared at Snape the whole way through the meal. He found himself blinking slightly at the thought that anyone, let alone Harry's own mother, could have dared to call Snape by a nickname, and have been allowed to get away with it. He barely registered that Snape was watching him just as intently, and he certainly didn't notice the bewildered looks he was receiving from his Gryffindor housemates.
When his friends had questioned his strange actions – taking to his bed with the curtains drawn in his free time, staring at Snape all through meals – he just shrugged them off. He wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to tell them about his mother's gift, and the revelations about Snape. He only knew that something inside him was sure that telling them would be wrong. Although it was true he found it more and more difficult to explain why he had to keep biting back a smile every time he caught sight of Snape after that. 'Sev' indeed…
Soon enough, it was all over. He was nominally an intellectual success, and he was free to spend his summer at the house Sirius and Remus had built. Those two denied any suggestion of romance between them, preferring to insist that they just felt that the two remaining Marauders ought to stick together. However, Harry knew for a fact that Sirius was gay. Shortly after the Easter holidays, he had come to the startling realisation that perhaps he preferred men. Confused, and more than a little ashamed of himself, he'd written to Sirius, who had been supportive and confessed his own predilections. Despite what they said, the looks Remus gave Sirius said very clearly that 'just friends' wasn't what he had in mind.
Anyhow, he was soon ensconced in a room of his own, with the freedom to do what he wished. He spent a lot of time with Sirius and Remus, but they were also busy with the tasks that they were performing for Dumbledore. While they were away, Harry enjoyed the luxury of having the house to himself. He took his mother's diaries out into the sunshine and sank once more into her world. The diaries held many more revelations for him.
Harry smiled happily to himself as he read about the growing closeness between his mother and father. A pleasant feeling of foreknowledge warmed him as he read about their tentative fourth-year courtship. First kisses and falling in love, and he was remarkably unembarrassed by the fact that these were his parents he was reading about. He laughed at the pranks Sirius had played on them and Remus' attempts at manipulating them into spending time together. And while there were indications of hostility between the Marauders, Sirius in particular, and his mother's preferred confidant, 'Sev', they seemed to be held in check. Or at least, there was no mention yet of attempted murder.
Then, towards the end of their fifth year, he came across a development that made him choke.
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3rd May 1976
It's been a year since our first kiss. After he kissed me goodnight tonight, just the same way he did a year ago, James told me he loved me. I love him too, and I said so. But I'm confused. I do love him. I want to be with him. But as I said it, I couldn't help thinking about Sev. And that's not how it should be, is it? Surely when I tell James I love him, I shouldn't also be thinking about another man? I don't understand. Maybe I'll go talk to Sev.
4th May 1976
I did manage to talk to Sev today. I didn't say exactly what the problem was, not at first, or even that there was a problem, but he knew. It's great having a friend who knows when I want to talk and when I just want to think about something in friendly company. Anyhow, after a while I just started talking, and before I knew it, I was telling him the whole thing. It was as if I was outside myself, listening to what I was saying, and I knew exactly what it sounded like. It sounded like I love James. But it also sounded like I love Sev. He kissed me, almost the same way James did the first time. Just brushing his lips across mine. His touch saying the same thing. 'I think I could be falling in love with you.' Holding a plea. I kissed him back. And then I left. I don't know what to do. It's not possible to be in love with two people at the same time, is it? I'm even more confused and I have no idea who to talk to now.
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Harry laid the diary down carefully, and went off to mutter at the bushes for a while. What the hell had happened? His mother had been in love with Snape? Snape had been in love with his mother? Kissing each other? He shuddered at the thought.