I realized just today, that I'd never heard you sing

Heard you wrap the world around your voice

And make the whole ruddy world ring.

Let the world scream, or nay, let it rejoice,

Firewitch, you'll set the whole world to burn.

And maybe at the end of it all, you'll finally learn.

Set your hopes on fire, alight with desire,

Set your dreams aflame, can't stop the game.

When flame meets flame in fatal clash,

When the whole world's turned to ash.

You'll find me there, with aught but wind and a shield.

To turn a spark to wildfire, in that desolate field.

Draco Malfoy watched as Hermione Granger snapped the letter off the owl, shutting the book nearly on Weasel's fingers. The poor dullards seemed to still think that sniffing the letters was going to give them an idea of who was sending them. (Draco supposed they'd never done it, themselves, with their own parchment. You had to actually be trying to make it work).

Hermione Granger wanted nothing more than to scurry off to her room and read the next letter. It wasn't so much that they were good, per se, as that they were for her, and she always enjoyed new reading material. And it was sort of fun, to think that she had a secret admirer. Nevertheless, she did have to eat, and there were classes, and so she bit down on a sigh, as she carefully laid food on her plate.

Harry, however, looked less bothered by the secret admirer mail than he usually did. Instead, he was obsessing over Malfoy's words in class. "Do you think it's true?" Harry asked them quietly.

"Whut? That Snape treats you... what...?" Ron said.

Thoughtfully, Hermione considered carefully, before saying, "I'm not sure what Malfoy stands to gain by lying."

Harry Potter shook his head, "Yeah, but it's Malfoy. Figure he'd lie just for the sake of it?"

"Undoubtedly," Hermione said in her ironclad voice, "But I think he already thought you knew. And I can corroborate that Slytherins do get detentions - I wasn't the only one there you know."

"So, if he's lying, it's carefully crafted." Harry said.

"Yeah, but that still leaves why?" Ron said. "What gain, what reason would Malfoy possibly have to want you to think... that Snape wasn't being an entirely evil bastard?"

Harry gave Ron a wide grin, "Causing me headaches, of course."

Hermione smirked, saying, "Oh, you know what he'd say to that -"

Ron responded (having the better Malfoy drawl), "I have better things to do with my time than develop schemes simply to cause you headaches."

They all laughed, riotously, at the impression.

Harry had a crafty grin on his face, "Ah, but we all know Malfoy's a liar."

Hermione couldn't help but start snickering at that.

Harry leaned forward, and asked softer than a whisper, "Do you believe it though? That Snape's been treating me the same as he might treat his own godson?"

Hermione shook her head, and said, "I'm... not sure. He did save your life, Harry."

The twins, who had been whispering together and seeming not to pay attention at all, looked up at Harry, and very, very quietly nodded. Harry eyed them sharply, as Ron said, "Of course not, Harry, we all know what a mean and nasty bastard Snape is. Surely he wouldn't be that way with his own godson."

"We have seen him shamelessly play favorites in class." Hermione said, pausing a moment to consider, "I wonder what he's like outside of class? With his Slytherins?"

Harry got an amused look on his face, as he said, "To figure that out, you'd have to go to some more Private Potion Lessons."

Hermione crossed her arms, and said snottily, "Absolutely not."

[a/n: Draco just meant that Harry was being treated like any other student. It's all Harry's interpolation that Snape might, maybe?, actually care for him more than the average student. The twins (out of Ron's hearing) are probably going to have more to say to Harry about this.

Draco, confronted with this entire conversation, would probably say, "I bet you've never ever heard a Slytherin call Snape soft, and Millie has Prof. Sprout wrapped around her little finger. There's a reason he's head of the snakes, mind."

In short, Snape's not nice with anyone, for any reason. He may rather enjoy being a malevolent bastard, but it is a "take no prisoners" sort of deal.]