As Harry tripped up the stairs to the sixths' years dormitory, he couldn't help thinking about the look Snape had given him.  He had been unable to decifer it, but for some reason he wanted to shiver every time he thought about it.  He slipped into the room and fell still clothed onto his bed.  He awkwardly got himself under the covers after slipping his shoes off and quickly fell into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Harry thought he'd fall asleep face first in his oatmeal, and probably would have if McGonagall hadn't handed out their schedules and shocked him awake.

Ron, sitting beside him groaned. "The first year we've ever gotten double Defense and it's the year that Snape's teaching it!"

They indeed did have double Defense Against the Dark Arts that day, as well as Transfiguration and Double Potions. Harry knew he wasn't going to like Mondays. They finished their breakfast and went to retrieve their things from the Dormitories before dragging their feet to Defense class.

As Harry walked into the room he was reminded strongly of the night before and had to suppress a shiver. Luckily, his next Occlumency lesson would be later that week with Dumbledore. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together at one desk, and as they sat down Harry realized that no one was talking. He guessed that the announcement at dinner the night before that Snape would be taking over this class caused everyone to be wary of his coming. After all, they no longer had the echoing bang of the dungeon door to anticipate his arrival anymore.

Harry looked around the room and realized that this year the class was full of people from all four Houses. Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all sitting a couple seats in front of them, and a few of the Gryffindor sixth year girls were sitting across the room, but there were also several Ravenclaws, a handful of Hufflepuffs, and a couple Slytherins. Malfoy was, of course, present, sitting on the other side of the room sneering at Harry.

"Everyone, wands out and stand up." Harry jumped at the unexpected sound of Snape's voice. He looked behind him to see that, indeed the door had been closed, but there had not been the familiar echo. Harry was a bit disconcerted thinking that from now on, Snape could enter the room like that with no one noticing.

The class all stood up and pulled out their wands. Snape, very reminiscent of the fake Mad-Eye two years previous, waved his wand and suddenly sent all the desks to press themselves neatly against the perimeter of the room. Snape strode out to the middle of the room and the rest of the class circled around him.

"I am aware that this Defense class has been neglected by several of the previous teachers and I intend to remedy that." He smiled in a way that almost frightened Harry. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Snape truly happy, and if this is what it looked like, he never wanted to see it again.

"Before I decide on my curriculum for this year, however, I need to know what you can do." His eyes roamed the room and settled menacingly on Harry.

"Potter. Center." Was all he said so, cautiously, Harry walked to the center of the circle and waited for instructions. "Potter, I want you to try and disarm me."

Not waiting for Snape to say more, Harry spoke. "Experlliarmus," and Snape's wand flew from his hand. Snape glared at him for a while before accepting it back from the Slytherin who had picked it up, and speaking.

"At least I know you can do the basics, Potter."

Harry face flushed with anger. Snape was the one who told him to do a basic spell, so why patronize him for being able to do it?

The rest of the double class period went about that same way. The more challenging spells were given to the Slytherins (who were not always able to do them) and the rest of the house members were given the simple spells to do.

After watching a tall lanky Slytherin stand there stammering as a boggart turned into a very menacing older witch, who Harry assumed was the boy's mother, Harry almost couldn't keep himself under control.

"You think you can do better, do you, Potter?" asked Snape, seeing his discomfort as he, Snape, shoved the boggart back into the briefcase he'd brought it in.

"Yes, sir, I do," Harry answered with barely suppressed rage. The rest of the class began whispering to each other. The Slytherins laughed while the rest of the class, especially those from the DA group of last year, imagined how much trouble Harry would get into by doing this.

"Back into the center then, Potter," Snape hissed at him.

Harry walked back into the interior of the circle and stood facing Snape.

Snape glowered at Harry from under his oily hair and released the boggart.

Harry was ready. He knew the boggart would turn into a Dementor when it saw him, and he knew how to deal with that easily. After all, if he could deal with the real thing, why not an imitation?

The class gasped. Harry would have too, had he not suddenly centered all his attention on what was in front of him. The boggart came out of the briefcase and well – split was the only word Harry could think of. Standing before him was not only a Dementor as he had anticipated, but also an arch with fabric over it that swayed, despite there being no breeze.

Harry froze. He knew what that was. He'd seen it last summer. But what was it doing there?

He had little time to ponder that however, because suddenly, the Dementor turned to the arch and seemed to be sucked into it. It made a noise that Harry assumed was a scream and the class as a unit shivered. Harry, still quite stunned, just stood there staring. Snape stepped back into the circle. "Riddikulus!" The arch changed briefly into Voldemort (only a few people in the room seemed to realize who it was – Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Malfoy included) and disappeared, but not before the venomous red eyes caught on fire and a pink curly wig appeared on the bald head. Had Harry not been so shocked, he would have laughed hysterically at, not only, the thing Snape was most afraid of, but the fact that he had Given Voldemort a wig. That was better than Neville putting a hat and dress on Snape!

Snape seemed to realize that there were some present who caught that whole mess, so he changed the subject rapidly. "What was that all about, Potter? I've never seen a boggart do that."

Knocked out of his reverie, Harry jerked at the sound of Snape's voice. He looked at him, as though trying to figure out who he was before answering, "I have no idea, Professor. It's never done that before."

Just then, the bell rang, making everyone jump.

"Potter, I'd like to speak with you."

The rest of the class filed out, but Harry stayed behind. He grabbed his bag and shrugged to Hermione and Ron before they walked out.

Snape turned to face Harry. "What was that, Mr. Potter?"

"Well, sir, I think it was death."

"What is that supposed to mean," was Snape's exasperated reply.

"Just what I said, sir. It seems my greatest fears are fear, and...death." Harry had thought about it, and that really was the only logical answer.

"How is that archway showing up mean that you have a fear of death?" Snape asked, getting impatient.

"That arch," Harry started, his voice devoid of emotion, "That was how Sirius died. He fell through it." Harry's eyes sort of glazed over and he stared at a point over Snape's left shoulder.

"What is this nonsense?" Snape hissed. "What are you talking about?"

"I just told you, sir," responded Harry, practically shouting. "At the Department of Mysteries there was a room with that arch in the middle of it, and when Sirius was fighting one of the Death Eaters he fell through the arch and now he's gone!" Harry was panting now as he spoke, "I heard voices the first time I went into that – room. I wasn't the only one who could hear them; voices coming from behind that sheet. And then Sirius fell through and he didn't come out the other side, and Remus told me he was dead. He fell through that bloody arch and he's never coming back!" Harry was surprised to feel tears on his cheek and hurriedly brushed at his eyes with the back of his hand, glaring at Snape to make fun of him.

Snape just looked at him. "You may go."

That was all Harry needed to hear before he stalked out of the room, wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his robe and glaring at inanimate objects.

*

Snape watched Harry go with a very confused look on his face. Well, it would have been a confused look if all of his emotions didn't look exactly the same. He closed the door and sat down at his desk to think.

He had been quite shocked the night before to know what Harry had been thinking when he had seen that memory a year before in the pensieve. Shocked and irritated. How dare Harry Potter pity him! But there was more that confused him, and this bit was beyond what he could comprehend. Potter did not fear Voldemort as much as he feared death? But, Voldemort could very well cause that death!

Snape glared for the sake of it as he grabbed his things and walked down the hall to his new office. He'd had to clean for days to get all of the pink out of that room...and that was with the aid of his wand! He stepped into the office, placed his things down on the desk and sighed in exasperation. "It's too warm in here," he muttered darkly.

"I'm sure that can be fixed," said a voice behind him.

Snape was proud of himself for being able to control his reflexes and not jump in surprise at the sound of a voice in what he thought had been an empty room.

He turned around slowly. "Headmaster, you certainly do have a way of sneaking up on people."

"Yes, well, that way I get to hear things they wouldn't have said if they knew I was here." His ever-present mirth shone in his eyes.

"There was something you wanted?" asked Snape turning his back on Dumbledore so as to conceal his rolled eyes.

"Only to inquire on how the lessons went last night with Mr. Potter."

"Oh, same as usual. He glared more than anything else and he had a vaguely hateful expression on his face most of the time. I can't understand why." Snape smirked.

"Aren't you a little hard on the boy, Snape?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"I will not have the boy pity me!" Snape started yelling from out of nowhere. "I will make him hate me as much as he does Voldemort if it will keep him from pitying me!" Snape had lost his cool and he mentally chided himself for doing so in front of the Headmaster.

Dumbledore's face because serious.

"You knew last year that Sirius was innocent after seeing Pettigrew again, and yet you pestered him. You made my protection of him seem a weakness of his. You cannot let go of childish grudges and now Sirius is dead. Harry is not James, Severus. He is nothing like his father except in looks and in skill. If this is the way you behave around him all the time, I can understand why he'd pity you." Snape was speechless. He'd never heard Dumbledore say such cruel things.

"So," he started smoothly, very cautious of the way he spoke after that uncharacteristic outbreak, "You pity me as well, do you?"

For a second Dumbledore just stood there looking at Snape. Then he smiled a bit. Then he laughed outright, the glow back in his eyes.

Snape felt as though he would fall over from shock. "Are you bi-polar Professor," Snape asked sarcastically, although he wouldn't have minded hearing an answer.

Dumbledore was wiping tears off his cheeks at this point and still chuckling a bit, trying to get his breath back. "That's really all that's holding you back, isn't it? Your pride.  You know now that Harry disapproved of the way his father treated you, don't you?  That is what you were referring to, was it not?  You now realize that perhaps Mr. Harry Potter isn't like his father, and yet...you are so set in your ways and you know it will cause a lot of talk if you change the way you treat him."  Dumbledore shook his head before speaking again.  "It must be exhausting to hide so much of yourself from everyone."

Snape harrumphed and turned back to the paperwork on his desk. He was about to comment, when all thoughts left his mind, replaced by a throbbing pain on his left forearm. His Dark Mark was burning.

Dumbledore noticed his flinch and asked knowingly, "Time for another meeting, is it?"

"I must go. I assume you will have the necessary potions ready for when I get back."

"I will make sure Poppy has extra Pain Extrantant, yes."

Snape nodded dumbly and walked toward his personal quarters. When he had returned with a tightly closed black leather sac in his hand he noticed that Dumbledore had disappeared as silently as he had come. Hefting the sac containing his Death Eater's robe and mask, Snape started walking toward the Dark Forest to change before he left the grounds of Hogwarts completely and Apparated to the meeting place.

~*~*~*~

xikum: Naw, nothing odd. . .it's just confidence, really.

Spaced Out Space Cadet: Yeah, Luna was my favorite part of that whole chapter. I wrote it, and it still makes me laugh every time I read it. I can just imagine her saying that :)

Kemenran: Will do!

Hermionegreen: What problem would that be?

Badassgothicgirl: hehehe Leave it to Snape to keep Harry from resting, eh?

Denise: Well, as soon as I finish my next chapter, you'll see. I've already written the first DADA class. I just hope it's up to standard.

Barrie: Yes, I suppose you're right. And thank you! I'm glad you think my characterization is true to the stories!

Andrea: Thanks. I'm working on it.

Emma: Intersting? I hope that was meant as a compliment, 'cause that's how I'm going to take it :)

Jaded Angel8: I'm glad you like it. Thanks for a great review *grins*

Anne: Don't worry. I will, I will, I will :)