A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I finally got a real teaching job, which has enveloped my life for the time being. I spell checked this myself, so sorry for any mistakes!

Harry sat on the lid of his trunk, giving Snape a hardened stare. Snape in turn was glaring at him with the same dark and vaguely threatening gaze that Harry had often glimpsed in his nightmares.

"Funny Potter, I thought you would have outgrown this by now." Snape said in a horse whisper, speaking for the first time since they had arrived at the cottage.

Harry paused for a moment, common sense telling him it was best to ignore Snape, but the fiery hatred that had brewed inside of him for so long begging for a confrontation.

"Outgrown what?" Harry asked at last, somewhat warily.

"These pathetic attempts at heroism." Snape responded, a wicked smile coming to linger on his pale face. "How many times have you mistaken foolishness for bravery?"

"Shut up." Harry said flatly, his words void of any feeling.

He knew that he had been brave, and despite what anyone might think he was definitely not playing the hero. He had never really wanted to be one, and even though the praise and recognition had felt good at times, it had always ended up making things more difficult for Harry.

"You beg to differ?" Snape continued, clearly wishing to dig a thorn into Harry's side. "I suppose you think that your actions are noble."

Again, common sense told Harry it was best to be silent, because he was only giving Snape what he wanted. Again, he could not stay quiet.

"I want revenge." Harry replied honestly. "I don't think there's any too noble about that."

"Really?" He asked, an odd gleam in his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you've made that clear."

A faint sneer appeared onSnape's face, one that Harry found vaguely troubling. It was almost as if he knew something that Harry didn't. Feeling very ill at ease, Harry leapt up from the trunk and turned towards the window, his back to Snape.

Outside the rain was still falling in miserable icy sheets, setting a very grim mood over the landscape. His eyes followed the wet muddy road down towards the horizon, where, if he squinted. he could just make the grey headstones of the village cemetery...

A sudden thought made Harry's stomach lurch. In the ruckus of the past two days he had nearly forgotten how he had found out about Snape in the first place. Mrs. Lloyd had seen him in the cemetery, leaving flowers on his mother's grave. Why?

Harry turned on his heels, his gut burning with a potent mix of anger and confusion. How dare he even lay eyes on her resting place, when he had helped bring about her death.

"Why were you at my mother's grave?" Harry suddenly demanded, his cheeks flaring red with fury.

For a moment Snape seemed to be genuinely caught off guard, though he regained his composure so quickly Harry couldn't be sure.

"Yes...I thought that might have been discovered." He responded slowly, taking great care with his words. "A very infantile mistake on my part. I did not count on that curious neighbor of yours appearing."

Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. He had never heard Snape criticize himself before, and it gave his entire statement a feeling of blunt honesty.

"Why were you there?" Harry asked again, raising the volume of his voice in an attempt to be intimidating.

"I don't suppose that is any of your business." He responded curtly, though he refused to look Harry in the eye.

Frustrated, Harry yanked his wand out of his pants pocket. Suddenly he felt that if he didn't know the truth he was going to burst.

"Tell me or I'll hex you!" He demanded, pointing his wand at Snape's chest.

"That won't be necessary." He replied in a smooth, calm voice. "Though I would like to see you try. I did always find your attempts at hexes rather pitiful."

Harry raised his wand threateningly, but then lowered it again when not even a flicker of fright or emotion appeared in Snape's expression.

"As I said, the use of violence is quite unnecessary at this point. As for your question, I came out of curiosity."

Harry had never considered himself especially intuitive, but he had the distinct feeling that this wasn't entirely the truth.

"What were you curious about?" Harry asked, sitting back down on the lid of his trunk, his wand still at the ready.

"Nothing in particular." Snape responded coolly.

Annoyed, Harry let out a great huff of breath and narrowed his eyes into tiny slits. He wished he could remember some of the Occlumency he had been taught, it would really come in handy right about now.

"I wouldn't attempt it Potter." Snape said, dryly. "You'll only end up embarrassing yourself."

Harry's eyes widened as he struggled to push every single one of his thoughts to the back of his mind. He had nearly forgotten that Snape was skilled in Legilimency, and could only wonder how long he had been using this to his advantage today.

"Long enough." Snape said, almost lazily. "What a shame you weren't bright enough to figure it out."

Harry's face went red, as he fervently wished he had something witty or biting to throw back at him. Instead, he focused on clearing his mind, blocking out everything except the sound of the rain pounding down on the roof above their heads.

"Stunningly adequate." Snape offered, breaking the silence. "Perhaps you were not entirely a lost cause."

Trying very hard to suppress anything vaguely resembling at emotion, Harry again returned to questioning.

"I think that you're lying." He said with narrowed eyes. "I think you went to my mother's grave and left those flowers to taunt me. You knew I would find out, and that it would make me angry."

"Angry enough to resume your pursuit of me?" Snape lifted his head slightly from the pillow, wearing a dubious sneer. "You have a mind Potter, you should think of putting it to use sometime. If that twit Narcissa had not come babbling like a fool to your front door you have been no closer to finding me than you had been before. What would the point of such a taunt be if I did not wish to be found?"

"You did it out of cruelty." Harry replied with surprisingly calmness.

He hadn't had time to think these things through, but that would seem to make the most sense.

"Highly illogical" Snape continued, with the same methodical reasoning he would have once used to grade a potions essay. "You will find yourself a poor Auror indeed."

"Stop it!" Harry demanded at once, his anger returning.

He was sure Snape was playing mind games with him, and he didn't like it. There must be some way to gain the upper hand, to force him to reveal his true intentions...

Struggling to remember what had been taught to him so long ago, Harry slowly stood, clutching his wand at his side. He couldn't remember much from his lessons with Snape, but did recall that it had always been harder to close his mind when he was distracted. He remembered the spell as well, or at least he hoped he did.

Before he could give Snape a chance to anticipate his actions he drew back his hand and punched him in the stomach...hard. Though he would have liked to revel in the satisfaction of finally being able to do that, he knew he had no time to waste.

"Legilimens!"

The room vanished before his eyes, and with surprisingly little resistance Harry was able to bring a flood of images into his mind. At first they were moving so quickly that he was unable to catch only fragments of images...

...two young boys, one of which who looked very much like Harry, taunting a young wiry girl with dark red hair in front of Snape...the same redheaded girl, only older, standing with Snape beside the lake...the girl caught in an embrace a boy who easily could have been Harry's twin while Snape looked on in disgust...the girl, grown into a woman now, lightly kissing a pallid and disheveled Snape on the cheek...

An incredible pain stuck Harry around the temples, like he had been stabbed with a knife. Quickly he let the images disappear, and staggered backwards holding his head in his hands. Still panting from the blow, Snape weakly shot a furious look in Harry's direction.

"Oh God..." Harry moaned, as the pain slowly dissipated. "My mother...kissed you."

Snape made no response, wisely sensing this was not the time for excessive emotion. Harry meanwhile began to feel the beginnings of an insane rage nipping at his insides.

"Was that before or after the prophecy!" Harry shouted, shaking with a pure unbreakable rage. "Was that before or after you sold her out!"

Snape did not respond at once, when he did it in a voice that was deceivingly tranquil.

"Contrary to what you might believe, I did not, as you say, sell Lily out." He explained, in an even and unwavering voice. "Even if I had wanted to, it would have been impossible to know to whom the prophecy was directed."

Harry throat closed, and he could feel bile beginning to churn in his stomach. He had never been this angry in his entire life, not even after Sirius died, not even after Dumbledore...

"You deserve to die!" Harry spat, consumed with rage. "How dare you touch my mother! How dare you touch her after you sold her out!"

"Have been listening to a single thing I've said?" Snape shouted, with a sudden rancorous anger. "I did not mean to betray her!"

If he had not been bound to the bed Harry was sure Snape would have had his hands wrapped around his throat by now. This only made him all the more angry.

"WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH, MURDERER!" Harry cried, his voice reaching a new crescendo. "I DESERVE THE TRUTH!"

"YOU WANT THE TRUTH?" Snape shouted back with equal passion. "I DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO SAVE HER, I BEGGED FOR HER LIFE...YOU STUPID LITTLE..."

"You liar!" Harry countered, though Snape's claims had eaten away at some of his anger. "Why would you do that?"

"I LOVED HER!" Snape finally cried, shocking them both into a silence so intense it seemed to consume everything.