Harry knocked tentatively on the door to Professor Snape's office, carefully rehearsing what he planned to say in his head. He'd marked the page in the diary where his mother talked about the bond, so that he could show it to Snape.
"Enter," came the response, and Harry did. He walked over to stand in front of the Professor's desk. Snape looked as intimidating as ever. Harry's new knowledge may have changed his feelings about the man, but not, apparently, about the teacher. Snape finished scribbling some vicious insult on the bottom of the scroll in front of him, and looked up.
As their eyes met for the first time since Harry had turned sixteen, they both took a deep breath. The strange elastic-band sensation was back, but Harry could feel it as if it were twice as strong as it had been on his birthday. For a second he was Snape, looking at him, and Harry looking back, caught as if in an infinite reflective loop. Then he blinked, and the feeling broke for a second. He looked down hurriedly. Avoiding Snape's eyes, he staggered backwards into one of the chairs in front of the professor's desk. He was fairly certain that Snape wouldn't object.
"What in Merlin's name was that?" Snape's voice sounded hoarse, unsteady, nothing like his normal honey and sand tones.
"Uh. My mother did…something." Harry's voice was equally uncertain. Still looking at his feet, he extended the diary, holding it cautiously at the top so that he could avoid Snape's touch.
Snape plucked it deftly from his fingers, seeming just as eager to avoid contact. Harry could hear pages being turned. Next the sound of fingers tapping against the desk as he read, and then turned the page back to read it again. Snape was saying something under his breath, and Harry strained his ears to catch it.
He sensed the moment Snape realised Harry was trying to overhear him, and felt Snape's lips press together to prevent any further sound escaping. He closed his eyes and fought back the vague feeling of nausea that came over him as he came face-to-face with the reality of being bound to Snape. Distantly he could feel Snape's own, identical reaction. They sat there for a while, trying to come to terms with this bizarre development.
"So." Harry said eventually. He rather suspected that he could have thought loudly instead of speaking, but he wanted to retain as much normality as possible. Hah. Fat chance! He realised Snape had overheard that thought when he caught a faint sense of sardonic amusement whisper through him. For a second he felt unduly pleased that he had made the man laugh, even if it was only silently. Then, identically shocked, they both grabbed hold of their disobedient thoughts and feelings, and tried to shove them as deep into their subconscious as possible.
"What do you suggest we do about this mess?" Harry began, realising that Snape wasn't about to say anything of his own accord.
"Did you even read that entry, Potter? Your mother said that she didn't think it could be undone, and from what I know about the subject, as little as it is, I suspect she may well be right." Harry rather thought that part of that last sentence had not been vocalised by Snape. It was hard to picture him admitting a lack of knowledge out loud.
"Why do you always call her 'your mother'? I mean, it's not like what you were doing together is a secret anymore, not from me at least. Or were you just pretending?" Using her, like Sirius thought.
Snape's voice became dangerously low, far more steady than it had been. "There's a very good reason for why I don't say her name any more. It still hurts too fucking much, damn it!" He broke off and looked stunned, as if he couldn't believe he'd given away that much.
Harry was fairly stunned too. Despite what he'd read in his mother's diaries, he hadn't expected the sheer depth of emotion and loss in Snape's voice when he made that confession. He'd never heard the man swear before, not even when he'd been practically insane with fury at Sirius' escape in Harry's third year. He realised his mouth was hanging open slightly, and tried to hide it by speaking.
"So what do you think that we should do, then?"
"There is no we, Potter. There is you, and there is I, and then there is this infernal thing that…Lily…made." Oh, that hurt. It seemed he had been telling the truth. For a second, Harry's heart contracted inside him. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
He gathered his scattered thoughts, and focused on the first part of Snape's sentence. "OK, then what do you suggest you and I do about this thing?"
"Nobody likes a smartarse, Potter." Hiding the emotion he realised Harry had felt behind his normal sniping.
"Well, I guess that explains your problem then." Harry clapped a hand over his mouth. Apparently it wasn't enough that he was leaking thoughts at Snape. Nope, now he had lost all control over what came out of his mouth as well. "Er… Sorry, sir."
Astonishingly, Snape wasn't rushing to take points from Gryffindor. "Considering the situation, Potter, I think I can forgive that. And as for your previous question, I think there is very little we can do, except wait and see how this develops."
"But…couldn't Professor Dumbledore help?"
"If you think I'm going to let that interfering old bat learn about this from me, then you are very much mistaken. He'll probably find out about it on his own, but until then, I'd prefer to keep this private. If that's all right with you."
"Actually." Harry began, but was cut off by Snape's glare. "Uh…okay?"
"Good answer, Potter."
"You know, since we appear to be, um, bonded." He stopped. Snape's eyebrows rose questioningly. Interesting, he seemed able to read the man much better now. Although perhaps that wasn't really surprising. "I do have a first name, you know."
"As do most people."
"Well, you could use it."
"I could. But if you expect me to allow you to use my first name, you are, as usual, mistaken."
"I thought so. You can still call me Harry though. If you want."
"Perhaps I will. Now, I have a lot of work to do. Maybe you would care to stay behind after your Potions lesson tomorrow, and we can discuss this further. It appears we will have to live with this for some time."
"Perhaps I will." Harry offered a tentative smile as he unconsciously imitated Snape's tone.
Snape didn't smile, but he did offer something. "Goodbye. Harry."