A/N Oh my goodness. Almost at 5,000 hits! Craziness. I'm in shock. Thank you so much for all of your support! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, it means the whole world. I've decided that I'm going to update once a week every Thursday, so you can look forward to scheduled updates now. :) This chapter is a bit on the heavier side, but I think the next chapter will be more happy. As always thanks for reading and please review!

Chapter 12

Harry

The world was going topsy turvy. He had thought his life was bad before… but now he longed for the days for when he was blissfully unaware that his father was Snape. The person who hated his guts. Just his luck. He was in a foul mood and he had a very strong desire to fling himself off the astronomy tower.

"Harry are you okay? You look awful." Luna told him dreamily. She stared at him with her big, unblinking eyes. They were in the Great Hall for dinner and Harry had been doing his best to kill his already dead dinner meat.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." He said.

"Hmm." She peered closer to him. He leaned back uneasily.

"Harry." It was Ginny. He toppled out of his seat, she was sitting on the other side of him. He hit a solid wall of a person and glanced up. It was Snape. For a moment they stared at each other with looks of horror on their faces. Harry jumped up hastily and without a word left the Great Hall. He was going to vomit. Snape was his dad. SNAPE was his dad. He broke into a run and burst into the bathroom. Someone was there but he ignored them as he hurled himself into a stall and threw up into a toilet.

"Harry?" asked a voice. Was that Draco? Why was he in the bathroom? Wiping his mouth he turned around. Indeed it was Draco, who looked as if he'd been crying as well.

"Why are you here?" he asked Draco.

"I could ask you the same. You look like hell." He said, looking Harry up and down.

"Well so do you. And since when do you call me Harry?" he asked a little testily.

"I dunno." Draco shrugged. "We make quite the pair, us two."

Harry laughed a little. "Yeah, sorry sight we are."

"So why are you here?" asked Draco.

"I just come here sometimes. To you know, get away." He sighed.

"What do you have to get away from?" Harry asked curiously.

Draco looked uneasy. "Well… I haven't told anyone yet. I'm not sure you want to know. I don't want you to think less of me."

"It's alright you don't have to tell me."

"I want to, just not yet." They looked at each other, mutual understanding passing between them.

The next day, Harry dreaded seeing Snape in class. It was just so weird, knowing that he was his dad. It was also rather depressing that Snape didn't seem to have any desire to tell him. Although Harry probably wouldn't have told him either if the situation was reversed. He really did not want to go to potions. He had been excited in the beginning of the year when he had learned that he could continue to pursue his studies to become an auror, Dumbledore had talked Snape into letting Harry in with and Exceeds Expectations. Now he wished that Snape had refused. He wondered if he could still drop the class. It was only October after all. Maybe he would ask Dumbledore in their private lesson tonight.

"Harry where are you going?" asked Hermione on their way to potions. He had passed the door to the classroom and just kept walking.

"Oh, right, Right." he muttered. Together they entered the classroom and took their usual seats. Harry swallowed nervously and took a look at the board.

"Amortentia." he said aloud. Hermione turned to look at it.

"You know what it is?" she asked, startled.

"Yeah, when I was looking in that book for the spell, to you know, they referenced it. The most powerful love potion in the world, right?"

"Yes, yes. Wonder what we're doing with it." Hermione put her chin in her hand and they waited for the lesson to start. Snape began drawling on about the love potion and Harry did his best to look around Snape. Anywhere but at him. He and Hermione paired together to make the potion.

"We will be making this over the course of the next nine days." Snape was saying.

"Why does the class smell like apples?" Draco looked confused as he entered. "Sorry I'm late." He handed Snape a pass. Harry blinked, then leaned over to smell Hermione's hair. The strong smell of apple shampoo filled his nostrils. He grinned and Hermione stomped on his foot.

"Amortentia smells like whatever attracts you." Harry said without thinking. The whole class turned to stare at him. That was what it smelled like, wasn't it? He supposed he had never answered a question correctly in potions in his entire six years here but still… he wasn't a complete idiot.

"Correct." Snape said, there was a look of cold distaste in his eyes and Harry felt his heart plummet. He was looking at him just like the Dursleys did. Just like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.

"Sit down Draco." Draco looked over at Harry and Hermione and sat in the seat across from them. Gulping Harry did his best to forget about the Potions Master and focus on the Amortentia.

Snape

He really was running out of excuses. He needed to tell Potter before he found out. And by the looks of it he was very close. He seemed to be avoiding him at all costs. Even sprinting out of the Great Hall after bumping into him. He had looked so shocked when Snape had addressed him in class. Perhaps he should've let down his cold mask but it was too late now.

"But how am I supposed to do it?" he asked himself. How did one tell a teenager that they were their father? This was going to be horribly embarrassing for sure. And bloody uncomfortable. Perhaps he should practice. No, he should just tell him. As he sat there in the sixth year potions class, watching them make Amortentia, he wondered if he should just do it after class. Rip the bandaid off. The bell rang and he stood up.

"Leave your cauldrons, we'll continue tomorrow." He paused for a moment. Should he do it? Ask Potter to stay? Just do it. Do it now. Before it's too late. He opened his mouth but Potter, Granger, and Draco had all booked it out of the classroom at top speed. Groaning he fell back into his chair. What were those three up to?

That night he waited for the Weasley girl to come into her detention. Honestly she was almost as annoying as those twins. And no help in a crisis whatsoever. Though he wasn't sure if a milk river counted as a crisis. There was a knock at the door and he called,

"Come in!" She stormed in with a furious look in her eyes. What had he done to offend her? She'd had no problem with detention in the previous weeks. He motioned for her to sit in the chair across from him. With another nasty look at him she flung herself into the seat with a snarl. Taken aback he glanced up at her. She was practically vibrating, looking like she wanted to leap over the desk and attack him. Deciding it was best to just ignore this, he wordlessly handed her a rag and spray bottle. She snatched it.

"What do you want me to do with this?" she snapped. Normally he would've chastised a student who talked to him like this but he wasn't sure he really wanted to know why Ms. Weasley was acting this way.

"Clean those cauldrons over there." he pointed to the dusty and dirty cauldrons in the corner. He could do it with magic of course but he usually saved this sort of thing for detention.

"Fine." She jumped up and with her fists at her side she stomped to the cauldrons and began scrubbing with a passionate fury. He watched for a moment before turning to some ungraded papers. He could hear her muttering under her breath but he ignored her, lost in red marks.

"Stupid old git- I can't believe-Harry deserves better-" He caught a few words and dropped his grading quill with a clatter. Her head shot up and for a moment fear sparked in her eyes but was quickly replaced with a cold fury.

"What did you say?" he asked quietly. Was he too late? Had the boy found out? She dropped the rag and spray bottle in a cauldron.
"You. You knew!" she screamed. His heart stopped.

"You knew and you said nothing! You made him feel this way! How could you! You treat him like crap! He deserves the whole world not YOU!" The girl stormed to his desk and slammed her palms down on the desk. There was a fury in her eyes unlike anything he had ever seen.

"You didn't even bother to get to know him before you made assumptions about him! You made his life- all of our lives horrible- for no reason! You hate him for no reason! CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE WHAT THAT'S LIKE!" She was turning nearly as red as her hair, she continued to lean even closer to him. He was so shocked at the raw anger that he didn't say a word.

"He lost Sirius and he gets you! Ugh!" She looked disgusted. "His dad, who mind you he never asked for, hates him! The Dursleys already make his life miserable and you just go around making him feel even worse!"

His mind was whirling frantically to keep up with the girl's rant. So Potter knew? And he was what? Upset? Of course he's upset you idiot he just found out his father is the dungeon bat! He took a breath to say something-anything- but she spat,

"Why do you hate him anyway? You know what, don't answer that. No reason of yours can possibly make the way you treat him okay." She shook her head at him and for a moment he felt like he was back in school having one of his teachers look at him with that same expression.

"I hope you're sorry." Now her voice was a deadly whisper. She turned to go, but turned back.

"And clean your own damn cauldrons." She walked out and slammed the door behind her. Severus dropped his face into his hands.

"Lily forgive me." he sobbed.

Ginny

Earlier that Day

She was worried, to say the least, about Harry. All day he'd been quiet. He had seemed fine in the morning, and according to Hermione nothing had happened in Potions besides Harry knowing something for a change. (Hermione's words not hers) But he didn't seem to even be living in the real world at the moment. For a moment she was scared that he'd done increortus again but Draco had said he didn't think so. Both of them kept stealing glances at Harry as he ate during dinner. His eyes were red, she had never known Harry to cry. Not even when Cedric had died, hell not even when Sirius died. She still had a couple minutes after dinner before her detention with Snape so she asked Harry if he fancied a walk on the grounds. The sun had started to set but it wasn't fully dark yet.

Together they walked out of the castle and towards a tree. A few people were wandering about as well, enjoying the last few rays of sunlight.

"Wanna sit?" she asked him. He nodded and they sat together under the tree, watching a few 7th years play some sort of game. She felt like she should ask him if he was okay, and she was about to say something but he spoke first.

"Ginny." he said softly. She looked into his vivid green eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"He hates me." His voice cracked. "My dad hates me. Why does all of my family hate me? What's wrong with me?" She wrapped her arms around his shaking body. She supposed he was referring to the Dursleys, those horrid muggles.

"Nothing is wrong with you, do you understand?" she said firmly. He said nothing, and she held onto him as long as she could.

She was pissed. She hated Snape. Loathed him. I hope he sits in a bowl of toad piss, she thought furiously, stomping to his office. How dare he make Harry feel that way. How dare he! The moment she saw him in his classroom, just sitting there like nothing had happened, she wanted to reach across the desk and strangle him. The fantasy was the only thing that kept her from actually doing it. If looks could kill, he would've been dead by now she was sure. She cleaned his stupid cauldrons, imagining what it would be like to have the pleasure of strangling Severus Snape. Ginny muttered to herself all the while, saying the bits about him being a greasy old git particularly loudly.

"What did you say?" She heard him say quietly from behind her. For a moment she thought he was referring the "stupid old git" part but then she realized it must be the "Harry deserves better". She thought about simply saying nothing and continuing to clean the cauldrons, but then… screw it. Tossing the rag and spray bottle into a cauldron, she drew herself up to full height and turned to look at him. Before she knew it she was screaming at him. She would be lucky if she didn't have detention for the rest of her life but she no longer cared. All of the frustrations that had been building up inside her boiled over in the harsh words she was yelling. Once she could go on no more, she turned to go but then remembered she hadn't finished cleaning the cauldrons.

"And clean your own damn cauldrons." She slammed the door behind her as hard as she could. I can't believe I just did that. Well it was too late to do anything about that now. Swallowing hard she hurried to the Gryffindor common room. When she slipped into her dormitory there was a letter sitting on her pillow, waiting for her. From her dead cousin. Lovely.