Disclaimer: I own only the plot!

A/N: OK, this chapter begins with something that was in the previous story, so if you haven't read that one, then you should or you'll probably be confused and wonder if I've been smoking something, anyways, enjoy the story!

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Harry Potter walked into King Cross Station with relief. No matter how much he didn't want to go back to that place, he still loved Hogwarts and almost everything about it. Harry really couldn't wait to get on the train and find Hermione and Ron. Smoothly walking through the barrier, Harry looked up to see the bright red train. Smiling, he pulled his trunk behind him and looked through all of the compartments for his two best friends. They hadn't written all that much over the summer. Harry told them that if they thought what they were putting down would only be frustrating then to wait until they had something good to write about.

He knew it sounded a bit harsh, but the summer before fifth year was bad enough with the vague messages, he did not want a repeat of the hurt and anger he felt towards them. Professor Lupin didn't seem to take his advice. He was almost constantly writing to Harry, telling him how it was okay to be hurt and cry and let all his feelings out. He was offering to listen in every letter he wrote. After a while, Harry gave up trying to get him to stop acting like this. He let the man do what he wanted, but Harry didn't need to talk to anyone. He was fine.

Harry couldn't find Ron or Hermione. Looking at the clock, he realized why. The clock read ten forty-five. Of course, how could Harry think that they would actually be there more than five minutes before the train left? The Weasley's were famous for their almost late arrivals. Finally, five minutes later, Harry spotted the pack of red-heads and one bushy brown-haired girl. Smiling, he waited for them to get into his compartment. He was not disappointed, as not soon after, Ron and Hermione came in, beaming.

"Hey, mate, how are you?" Ron asked.

"Oh, Harry, are you okay? They said you weren't going to Grimmauld Place! Why didn't you come?" Hermione began

"I'm fine, guys, I'm glad I'm going back to school. As for why I didn't go, well, Dumbledore gave me reason to believe that I would be safer at the Dursley's, you know? Anyways, this year should be great. No Umbridge, I can get Dumbledore to let me back on the house team, and we don't have O.W.L.'s this year. What possibly could be bad?" Harry stated, almost daring them to argue with him, by the look in his eyes.

This obviously worked, and they all sat in silence for a while. That is until the witch with the food cart came along and Harry bought them all as many sweets as they wanted. This perked up Ron's spirits quite a bit and Ron and Harry began a battle of daring with the Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor-Beans. Just as Harry was about to bite into a particularly nasty orange with red flecked bean, the door opened and in came the Golden Trio's arch-rivals: Malfoy and his goons.

"Well, if it isn't Potty, Weasel, and the Mudblood," Malfoy sneered.

"How original, Malfoy, as well as completely ridiculous. You are trying to insinuate that you just happened upon us when in fact you came in to try and cause trouble. Why don't you just crawl back to whatever gutter you came from," Harry responded mildly. Draco seemed speechless for a moment.

"Big words, Potter, but words won't save you forever. You'll get yours. Remember my friends in high places," Draco replied. He sneered one last time before exiting their compartment.

Turning around, Harry noticed the look on his friends faces and smiled cheekily at them. "That was fun. Oh, and Ron, you might want to shut your mouth. You'll catch flies that way." Harry quickly sobered up to his previous mood and sat down to finish their candy. The rest of the trip passed quickly and before the trio knew it, they had reached Hogsmeade.

After a quick greeting to Hagrid, they got into a carriage that would lead them up to the school. Harry ignored the thestrals that were driving them. He did not want to think about why he could see them. Cedric. Sirius. No, he wasn't going to think about that.

Harry pushed down the sinking feeling in his heart and stomach and walked into school with everyone else, hoping as he passed the threshold, that this year would be different than the others and that he could try to be just a normal kid like everyone else.

~*~

Severus sat at the staff table with his trademark sneer firmly in place. Oh, the delightful and oh so very bright children were back. How wonderful. He glared at the entire hall before allowing his gaze to fall upon possibly the most annoying student he ever had to teach: Potter.

The boy didn't seem all that cheery at the moment. Pity. Perhaps if the brat had actually gone to Grimmauld Place like he was supposed to, he would be happier. Not to mention that Severus wouldn't have had to continue guarding him. Dumbledore easily gave him the most time to guard the boy. Obviously he thought the rest of the Order members previously assigned to the task inadequate.

Severus didn't really know if this made him more proud or disgusted. On the one hand, he had Albus' trust one thing he wanted more than any other. On the other, he had to watch Potter more often. It wouldn't really have been so bad if Potter had done anything besides stand at the bloody lamppost for hours on end. Potter's life was so very fascinating, so much that he almost had to take a potion to keep himself awake.

Stopping these thoughts, he realized that the first years had already come in with McGonagall and were staring fearfully at the Sorting Hat. After an incredibly ludicrous song about the four houses, the students were sorted. The tedium wore on as the amount of students was considerably more than usual. Great, even more of them to try and control.

Severus could see that the other professor's were thinking along the same lines as he was. Flitwick would probably be cheerful as ever, Sprout would have to buy more ear muffs, and Hagrid would, well, nothing really as it was a demonstrative class, but the half-giant would need as much help as he could when he would have to control that bunch.

Severus' eyes landed on the empty seat between himself and McGonagall. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Albus had refused to tell anyone who he or she was. Hopefully the Headmaster would finally choose someone decent for a change. Perhaps it was Moody again, and the ex-auror was unaware that his fake counterpart had already done the dramatic entrance.

The feast began very quickly after the students were finished being sorted and the children began eating as much as they possibly could in the shortest amount of time possible. It was really disgusting. Severus caught the figure of Potter, though, and he wasn't eating like the others. Actually, what he was doing was more pushing his food around on the plate. Strange. Severus tried to brush the sad figure of Harry Potter out of his mind as he continued eating.

Once the feast was done, the Headmaster stood up to speak, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I trust you have all been well fed. I would remind you all that there is no magic in the corridors. To all first years, and some extremely forgetful older students," here, Dumbledore's eyes flashed in the direction of the Golden Trio, but his eyes turned downcast when he noticed the state that Potter was in and in a much more somber tone, he continued, "the Forbidden Forest is in fact, forbidden. Your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will arrive next week and until then, those classes are cancelled. Now, I believe that it is about time we all got some well deserved rest."

With that, the students stood up and began walking to their common rooms. Severus stood up and after a look at the Headmaster, who was looking uncharacteristically grave, he left for his chambers. On his way there, he suddenly turned around and decided to speak with the Headmaster about Potter's state. He didn't care, he just wanted to make sure his potions labs didn't blow up because of the boy's ineptitude…

~*~

Harry was stopped on his way up to Gryffindor Tower by McGonagall who told him the Headmaster wanted to speak to him. Harry sighed and turned towards the Headmaster's office. Stopping at the gargoyle, he cursed. Why did he always forget to ask the password? Oh well, better start guessing, "Er, Bertie Bott's…no…Cockroach Clusters…no…Lemon Drops…no."

Before Harry could guess any more candies, he heard an oily voice behind him, "Once again breaking the rules Potter? Of course, the Great Harry Potter can't go to bed like everyone else. He has to be treated specially. Just like the over-large ego of your father!"

During the little speech of Snape's Harry could feel his anger rising. Who did Snape think he was? What gave him the right to constantly be picking on and criticizing him? What let him constantly mock the memory of a dead man, a man who Harry had looked up to for years before Snape came along and ruined it all? No matter how irrational it may have been, Harry felt his anger pouring over.

"Shut up! Just SHUT UP! Will you stop acting so childish! I am not breaking the rules, NOT like it is ANY of YOUR business! And I am TIRED of hearing you make fun of my dead father. You got that? He is DEAD so GET OVER IT, already." Harry was breathing hard and the two of them were staring with equal amounts of anger at the other.

"Detention, Potter, tomorrow at eight. Be on time, unless you want another." With that said, Snape turned and left in an angry swirl. That was when Harry turned in the other direction and went to the Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore could find him some other time. It's not like what he had to say would be all that interesting anyway.

The next day, the Detention….

Harry walked into the potions lab at exactly eight o' one. "That warrants another detention, I believe, Potter. Tomorrow, same time. Right now,  you will be cleaning out my storage cupboard and re-shelving everything. I will return to check on your progress in two hours time." Once that was said, Snape left Harry to work on the cupboard alone and in peace.

Harry worked hard on the cupboard, letting all his frustration out will scrubbing down the wood as well as in an effort to spite Snape and give him no reason to give him a third detention in two days. Harry was almost done. He just had to put the top row of potions ingredients in their proper place. Just as he put the last ingredient away, he felt the wood along the side of the cupboard slide.

That was odd, wood didn't just slide on its own. Excitedly, Harry realized that it had to be a secret compartment. Moving his hand away, and hoping to get a good look inside, Harry was disappointed when all that came out was a folded up piece of paper. That was odd, it wasn't parchment. It was muggle paper.

A small voice inside Harry said to put the paper away and not read it, it was none of his business. Visions of an angry Snape after the pensieve filled his mind. Brushing this aside with his anger at Snape, Harry quickly unfolded the muggle piece of paper and looked at its content. What he saw made him gasp and drop the paper.

A picture of a dark man and a small boy with green eyes and a lightening bolt on his forehead, as well as the words:

To: Mr. Snape

From: Harry (Mr. Potter)

I love you!

After the shock had worn off, Harry picked the paper back up and just stared at it. This didn't make any sense. Why would Snape have this? Why was his name on it? Visions erupted in his mind of a tall, dark figure sneering down at him. A destroyed garden, a nearly empty house. It was so confusing. What was going on? Hearing Snape returning, Harry made a split decision. He shut the secret panel, folded the paper, and slid it into his pocket.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!

Now, To my favorite reviewers (yes, it is all of them!):

Nicoletta – I know, I the order members are so out of shape. I just can't see Mr. Weasley able to keep up with Harry while running!

Mystical Witch – I know, it is a tad immature, but it hasn't been too long, and Harry is still grieving so I'm giving him a little bit of slack.

Maikafuiniel – Thanks! But, nope, you're the third reviewer! Sorry!

Ronda-silverpaw – I know, it is depressing enough for people who aren't grieving as well, glad you like it!

Shezan – Thanks. I know, I didn't put Percy making up with his family in the story. I just think that its not really top priority for what Harry wants to talk about at the moment. It will come up, though, and not everybody is as forgiving as his parents!

Starangel2106 – Thanks for the points! Yeah, he kinda asks questions but not too much in depth at the moment.

Sword Wielder-Firebreath – Thanks! I'm really happy that you like my writing!

QueenOfTheMists – Thanks! Did you review in hpfanfiction.com? Was it under a different name? or maybe I'm not looking at my reviews right! Glad you read my story though!

LissaPadfootLuvr – Yeah, Harry does need fun, too bad it was so short lived!

Emma – Thanks!

Shirriez – Thanks a lot! I'm so glad you liked my other story too! I really appreciate your kind words!

Corgi1 – Thanks! Hope this doesn't disappoint!

Kateri1 – Yeah, I'm glad about the selective amnesia too, I just don't see him as a tattle tale! Hehe!

Fox890 – Harry does kinda remember, he just doesn't really make the connection until the end of the chapter. After all, if you had someone who you thought was the greatest and the only person who loved you I don't think that it would be all that easy to connect them with someone who acts like they hated you. Eh, that's just what my logic was, maybe I'm wrong… Thanks for reading!

MerlinHalliwell – Thanks, I'm glad I'm doing a sequel as well!

mySakurazukamori – Thanks for reading and I agree with you on all points! Sev needs good reflexes, he's a spy hehe.

Tia – glad you're so cheerful for the sequel!

Gual1 – glad you liked the first chapter!

Sylvanus Snape – Glad you liked it, sorry he doesn't go to Sev's house yet.

Blackunicorn – so glad that you enjoyed the first chapter!

The Cat That Killed Curiosity – Hi! Yep, I do live around the capital area, and I'm glad you liked my story!

Anonymous – Glad you like it, sorry to keep you waiting so long!

Wynjara – Thanks, yeah, it would make sense with him, I think that is why Harry needs Severus, he doesn't let Harry get away with anything.

Jean Marie – Yeah, Mark Evans will probably be in this story, I don't think that he will be all that super important, but he definitely will make an appearance.

Tati1 – Thanks for the review, you are always one of the most enthusiastic! Yes, there will be much more Harry/ Severus interaction, and if I am not mistaken, the new Defense Teacher will get into the relationship quite a bit as well.

Pip3 – I take it that means you like it?

Angel74 – So lad that you like it! It is starting to tie in!

Rarity88 – Thanks to you and your sister! Hehe! So glad that you both liked it!

Heather – Glad you like it, I think their relationship is going to have to build and with their recent history it is not going to be all that easy. But it will happen. And don't worry I usually update once a week!

Lexa – I think your review was fine, I know what it is like to be in the middle of a challenge!

Andromeda's Kitty – Thanks, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
GoddessMoonLady – Yeah, the connection didn't really come until this chapter, but it is there!

Silvernightshade – Hehe, I sometimes don't sign on as well when I review! Glad you enjoyed it!
Penny – Hope this is good enough for you!
Amber16 – Thanks! I hope this one doesn't disappoint!
kapies – here you go! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Padawan Jan-AQ – Thanks! Glad that you like it so far!
sadisticfreak529 – Thanks for your super support! It really means a lot to me and I am glad you like it!

Siripitus – Thanks! Glad you enjoy it!