Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower about an hour before dinner, having walked back with Snape at the man's insistence once the overcast sky had begun to drift with flurries of late winter snow. He walked into the Common Room to find his friends and dorm mates whispering at a table, the Common Room otherwise empty with the First and Second Years on the grounds in the snow and the rest of Gryffindor either still in Hogsmeade or playing with the younger Years.
Harry immediately walked over to his friends, grinning. He'd enjoyed Valentines for the first time since coming to the Wizarding World, thanks to Snape. Except for a mercifully brief urge to kiss the man that he'd experienced when they'd first sat down at The Three Broomsticks, an urge he blatantly refused to contemplate, he'd had a fairly spectacular day. It had been nice to be in the company of someone who was solely focused on him, and it had been a secret joy to coax the rare laughter out of the normally stoic Potions Master.
Harry's grin faltered as he approached his whispering friends only to have them stop abruptly and turn to stare at him seriously.
"Hey, guys, what's up? You all look like someone told you your dog died," He joked, trying to lighten the heavy mood.
None of his friends smiled.
"Harry, please sit down, we need to have a serious talk," Hermione said primly.
Harry frowned now as he stood at the end of the table. He ignored, for now, the seat available, and stared back as his friends watched him. Hermione was the only one who was brave enough to meet his eye, and he stared back defiantly at his tight-lipped friend. Finally, she spoke.
"Harry, we think what you're doing is wrong," She said flatly.
Harry stared at her in confusion. "I don't-"
"It's downright disgusting, is what it is!" Ron interrupted. "What the hell are you thinking, Harry? He's got to be twice your age, and he's a greasy git!"
Harry frowned, finally taking the open seat. "Okay, always assuming I know what the hell you're talking about, would you like to tell me what's so wrong with it?"
"It's disgusting," Ron repeated.
"And vulgar," Ginny added.
"Not to mention messed up as hell," Seamus spat.
Harry frowned around at his friends. "You…you're not making any sense."
"We saw you, Harry," Hermione said accusingly. "I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but this has to stop. The whole school is talking about it!"
"Talking about what?" Harry demanded, growing impatient.
"Your date with Snape!" Neville answered loudly.
Harry gaped at his friends. "My what?" The table of Gryffindors stared back at him accusingly, and Harry felt laughter bubble up in his throat. "You-you can't be serious."
"We saw you!" Hermione said again. "Half of Hogsmeade saw you! You had tea together, and then you walked around the village in your own little bubble! Some students are even claiming to have seen you hold hands!"
Harry could no longer hold his laughter. "That-that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" He cried, laughing violently. "That wasn't a date! We were just…hanging out after you all abandoned me for your own little Valentines dates! Merlin, what's wrong with you? Snape's my friend!"
"That's not what it looked like, Harry," Hermione accused darkly. "You need to stop this before one or both of you gets hurt."
"Stop what?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
"You spend all your time with him, Harry! You've spent the last three weekends in the dungeons! And you're constantly defending him now!" Ginny cried
"That's what you do with friends!" Harry argued, still laughing.
"He's just using you, Harry, can't you see that?" Dean demanded hotly. "Snape's a Slytherin, the head Slytherin. He doesn't have any real feelings for anyone! He's just using you for a good fuck!"
Harry's laughter vanished as if he'd been slapped, and he glowered at his friends. "That's going too far, Dean."
"No it isn't, Harry," Ron said angrily. "We all think so! Snape's a git, he wouldn't know love if it bit him on the arse. We're saying this as your friends: put an end to it before things get out of hand!"
Harry stood violently from his chair, toppling it. Anger, born partially out of guilt for his own wayward desires earlier in the day, seared through his veins. "If you were really my friends you'd trust me! There's nothing going on between me and Snape, and there never will be! And even if there were, you must all take responsibility for having driven me to him by being terrible friends! You two, my supposed 'best' friends, are so involved with each other that you couldn't be bothered to notice I was slowly killing myself since last year! The rest of you don't even have excuses, except that you were just too busy to be bothered! Snape is a true friend; he actually cares about what happens to me, whereas you six have only ignored me for most of the year! So what if I want to spend my time with him, when the alternative is being ignored by the people who claim to have my best interests at hearts!" He shouted.
"Harry, we-"
"Enough!" The Wizarding Savior cried. "I'm tired of you accusing me like this! And I won't listen to you bad mouth the one person in this world who makes me feel like a goddamn human! If you were really my friends, you'd be happy that I found a friend who understands me while you were busy with your nightmare-free lives!"
With those parting words, Harry fled Gryffindor Common Room and his supposed friends. He quickly found the tapestry that hid the Room of Requirement, and after pacing angrily in front of it, he disappeared inside. Therein, as his anger at his friends broiled low in his belly, he worried over the sudden desire that had sparked in him towards the professor in question, even as his heart ached to see him.