When morning arrived Harry was surprised to see that he had actually had a good night's sleep. Still, he was woken up by a dull ache that drew his attention to his bandaged hand.
Snape had been kind. In his own way. Harry was starting to see a different side of him. He was still prickly and acted more or less the same toward him but…
He looked down at his hand.
…It wasn't the same. Things had changed. He would have expected him to remain cold, maybe make a cruel comment about the Dursleys. But now he knew the one secret Harry had intended to take to the grave. Harry had expected insults, sneers, disgust but he had not expected… caring? He wasn't sure he could classify Snape as a caring person. And yet here he was, bandaging his wounds, interfering before the Slytherins could hex him… keeping his secret.
All in all he was very confused about the potions Master. So much so that he wasn't sure what to make of him anymore. Umbridge really had to go. There was no way he was starting to like Snape. It was inconceivable.
On another note… He looked over to Ron's empty bed and sighed. Memories of the day he had the vision returned and he closed his eyes. He needed to learn to occlude. He couldn't let Voldemort… drive him insane.
First thing he did when classes ended was go to the library. Through the restricted section he tried finding any book with reference to the mind on the weathered spines. He picked out a couple. Most had a section on Occlumency and Legilimens. He kept the thinnest one and checked it out.
He managed to evade Umbridge's wrath for the remainder of the week. Snape's 'detentions' simply served to prove what the potion's master had constantly pointed out. That he was an idiot. The book had proven more complicated than he had anticipated. Hence, Snape had gotten annoyed at him. Snape getting annoyed at him meant getting kicked out ten minutes early.
'Clear your mind, think of nothing,' was easier said than done.
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"Severus my boy, come in." Albus called him over and offered him a seat. A purple polkadot teapot floated in mid-air, pouring the potions Master a cup in an obscenely pink tea cup.
"Tell me, did you finally dispose of Umbridge and kept bits of her teaset?" Snape asked. Albus only chuckled and took a few sips from his neon green cup.
"I do love hearing your sense of humour Severus. Now, we need to talk about Harry."
Severus put down the cup and sneered at the lilac brew. "Ofcourse we do. What would Potter do if there wasn't at least one person talking about him?" he asked.
"I take it occlumency is not going well?"
"Not at all. He's read half a page from one book that he doesn't understand and has decided that is as good as he is going to get." Snape scoffed.
"Interesting, there aren't any occlumency books in the general section, has he been sneaking into the restricted section?" Knowing Dumbledore would never punish the boy he went with that.
"Yes." He said simply.
"Oh dear, oh well. That's the truth of a curious mind." He said.
"I'd settle for a quieter mind." Snape mumbled.
"I hear you have a detention with him today. On the last day? Truly Severus?"
"I manage my own detentions. The school term is not over until six." He said.
"Ah, of course. I must have forgotten. Here, give these to Harry, I'm afraid I will be gone soon and won't be able to see him." He handed him some pastries in a cloth bag.
"Treacle tarts." Severus said in a bland tone.
"Harry's favourite." Albus pointed out. He sent an icy glare at the headmaster.
"I find it astonishing, headmaster, that you would confuse me with a delivery owl. Perhaps a visit to Madam Pomfrey for an eye check is due?"
"I'm afraid the owls are going through a rebellious phase right now and the training owls are still recovering from their most recent trips. Could you please?" Severus clenched his jaw, taking the damn pastries as he rose from his seat.
"May I leave now? I have a third year class of idiots to teach." Dumbledore simply gave him a nod and Severus was gone.
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Slipping away from Hermione had been particularly easy. She'd been particularly busy packing her own things which Harry figured it meant she was packing her Christmas presents.
He made his way to the dungeons and knocked on Snape's office door.
"Enter." Harry came in and closed the door behind him, sitting across from him. He felt the anxiety and embarrassment creeping in and started thinking about unicorns instead. Yet again Snape wasn't looking at him and simply read his book, which Harry could only guess was a book on potions. In front of his own chair there was a plate of treacle tarts laid out and a glass of milk. Harry glared at Snape.
"I'm not a kid." Harry said sitting himself down. The tarts looked mouth-watering though.
"Law and general agreement says otherwise." Snape said dismissively. "A present from the headmaster."
"Really?" Harry said brightly, thinking that they were actually his and not a tool for Snape to intimidate him with.
"Well they certainly aren't from me." Snape's snarky reply made Harry's annoyance return once again and he scoffed.
"I'd be more worried about getting poisoned if they were." He said taking a bite.
"I still could have slipped when laying them out. Anyway, I guess we'll know soon enough." Harry frowned and looked down at the innocent looking tart before carrying on enjoying it, though at a slower pace and trying to see if he felt any different. Snape smirked and looked smug the entire time as Harry struggled with his need to scoff them down in a Ronian style, and assess himself continuously for any signs of poisoning.
He left one for Snape and finally looked up. "Are you being nice to me? It's really hard to tell."
Snape scoffed glaring at him with the intensity of a hundred suns. If looks could kill…well….
"I most certainly am not! Believe me I am not here by my own choice!" he yelled.
Naturally Harry had to reply the same. "Well good! Because I don't need your pity!" He exclaimed.
"You don't deserve my pity." Snape scoffed and Harry clenched his jaw.
"Yeah? Well, you don't deserve this treacle tart." Harry said simply taking a huge bite off the remaining pastry.
"They're yours you imbecile."
"I left one for you! You… you…"
"Careful Potter. I am still your teacher." Harry closed his mouth and simply glared at him, looking away, grabbing his bag.
"I am quite finished. Enjoy your holiday professor." He said. Snape luckily let him go this time. He only hoped it didn't mean that he was going to tell everyone the truth. He decided to put a little bit of faith on the irritating man for a while longer.
As he stepped into the carriage that night he saw the teachers organising the youngest students back into the train and he spotted Snape on the Slytherin side, guiding the young uncertain ones here or there. As the train started pulling out of the platform their eyes met. Although the other's icy demeanour remained, he didn't sneer or glare at him. In fact he looked at him bored and Harry surprised the potion's master by laughing softly.
"What's so funny Harry?" Hermione asked after the train had already pulled out entirely from the platform.
"Nothing… just remembered something funny." Harry said and lay back, closing his eyes, trying to get a few hours of rest.
