For the disclaimer see previous chapters

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"Mr. Potter, it is 8:01. Did I not say to be here at precisely 8:00? You are a minute late. That will result in another detention. Tomorrow night. Same time and if you are late again… there will be another detention." Said Professor Snape.

Harry noticed that Malfoy was standing just inside the door to the potions classroom with a smirk on his face. It seemed that Malfoy needed to catch up on some potions work or something, which was obviously why Professor Snape had said what he did. Harry said nothing but stared at the floor.

"That is all, Malfoy. You may go now." Snape said with a hint of maliciousness in his tone.

"Come with me, Harry." Harry followed Professor Snape into his office and sat down.

"Obviously, I will not spend this time making you do unnecessary work. However, I would like to get to know you more. You know that this is the only way that we can spend time together during the term without Voldemort being suspicious."

"Yes, sir… there is a question that I would like to ask you. How did Malfoy come to be in NEWT level potions? I noticed that his potion the other day wasn't near the color it should have been." Asked Harry.

"Well, unfortunately, the person scoring his potions OWL was a deatheater. I believe that it was Voldemort's plan to keep someone close to me. The dark Lord does not fully trust any of his deatheaters. Lucius Malfoy is high up in the ranks and therefore his son is considered worthy to keep an eye on me. Making sure that I'm not nice to the boy-who-lived, making sure that I give fellow deatheater's sons the proper grades. The Dark Lord likes to have a hand in everything and there is nothing that is too far reaching for his spies."

"Oh," said Harry simply.

"I will do my best to mark you and your fellow classmates fairly. Except of course the deatheaters, however, you know that I must treat everyone with the same scorn and disdain that I normally would. Here there is something that I want to show you."

At that Snape walked over to a trunk that looked very similar to the one that he had given Harry. With a wave of his wand, the trunk opened. He then tapped the bottom of it with his wand and said "comperio."

"Come with me Harry."

Harry got up and went over to the trunk. He followed the stairs down into a dark room. He groped along the wall until a light came on presumably from Professor Snape.

As he looked around he noticed that there were several rooms. "This is where I come when I need privacy and want to get away for a little while. I have created these rooms to resemble the first floor of my – our – family homestead. The room we are standing in is just a basic sitting room."

Harry noticed that there was a large fireplace with several very comfortable looking couches decorated in black and silver. There was also a large desk in one of the corners and a bookshelf that took up almost an entire wall. After all that he had learned about Snape he was not surprised to see this.

"This room connects to a small kitchen which then connects to a small formal dining room. Obviously, I don't bring many people down here, but I wanted a formal place to eat when by myself and it is large enough to accommodate both of us. This door over here leads to my special lab. It is where I brew many potions and expert with many new potions. No one bothers to disturb me when I am down here. This last room is what I really wanted to show you."

As Harry walked into the room, he could not help but be in awe of what he saw. This room contained only two chairs and many photo albums containing pictures of Lily while at Hogwarts and Snape while at Hogwarts as well as pictures of the two of them together in the early days of their marriage.

"I found this room here only recently after I had gained back my memories. I've been spending a lot of time in here lately and thought that you might enjoy sitting in here and looking at the pictures. I even have a couple of stories that I might be able to share with you about what your mother was like. I don't think that you've gotten an accurate picture because everyone thought that she was with James and was an entirely different person."

"I would like that very much sir."

"Very well, very well… let's go back and sit in the living room now shall we?" said Snape quite brusquely.

"How was your first day of studies?"

"It was okay. We got many of the same speeches from all the teachers. You know, NEWTS are coming up? Study hard. That type of thing. We had a duel in charms. Ron won."

"A Duel? And Ron won? Against you I presume? So why did you let him win?"

"Let him win? I didn't say I let him win. What makes you think that?"

"I am very much aware of your abilities, Mr. Potter. Don't think that you can fool me. I know that you could easily have beaten Ron. So I ask again… why did you let him win?"

"I don't know… it just seemed the right thing to do. I get all the attention everywhere I go and I'm tired of it. I don't want to be known as the boy-who-lived or the one who has escaped Voldemort 4 times or even the one that one that duel in charms class."

"Harry, that is something you simply must get used to. If you face Voldemort at the end of the year and defeat him (and I absolutely demand as your father that you do so) you will gain even more publicity. Your past is nothing to be ashamed of and you should walk around with your head held high. You cannot let people defeat you with their comments. Well, time has passed quickly, young Mr. Snape." Said Professor Snape with a twinkle in the eye.

"Mr. Snape is it now? I am worthy of being claimed as yours?" said Harry jokingly.

"Harry, there is something I want you to know." Said Snape seriously. "I can't tell you what it means to me to know that you are a creation of Lily and myself. Nothing can excuse my treatment of you in the past five years. I can make excuses but that is all they would be. You are an exceptional young man and I believe that you one of the only wizards I know of (save Dumbledore) who would be able to defeat Voldemort at any age muchless as young as you are. Dumbledore and I will do everything that we can to make sure that NOTHING happens to you. I have already lost out on 16 years of your life and I will not lose you again."

Harry was too startled at the display of emotion coming from his malicious potions master to say much of anything except, "oh."

"I know that all of this is a shock to you, but I intend to prove to you that I am trustworthy. That I do… love you. I know it will take a while to get used to, but I sincerely hope that you can think of me as your father. Now, it's time to head back up to the tower. Don't forget that we have another detention tomorrow night and if anyone asked, you cleaned out my cauldrons by hand."

As Harry headed back to his room, he thought of this great change in the potions master. He went from absolutely hating Harry to loving him as his son in only one summer. Harry did not know that he could trust him just yet. 'What if this is all a trap? I mean it's still possible that he is not truly a spy for Voldemort.' As soon as he thought this he immediately dismissed it. When he reached the common room he found that Ron and Hermione had already gone to bed, as had all the rest of the Gryffindors. Harry slipped quietly into his bed and began a deep, dreamless sleep.

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I have come to the conclusion that this fan fic absolutely stinks. However because I hate to leave it unfinished I will try to make sure that it gets finished.