"Get up idiot boy! If I were the Dark Lord you would be dead. You must be quick on your feet, Potter!" I snapped and circled Potter closely, watching as he clutched his side in pain.
Harry growled and stumbled back onto his feet. He clutched his side with one hand and raised his wand shakily with the other hand.
I sighed and lowered my wand, "What's wrong, Potter?"
He shook his head and motioned upward with his wand, "Nothing, fight." He wheezed slightly, the sign of a broken rib.
I mumbled a healing spell and aimed it at his hunched form.
He gasped before standing up slowly. "How the hell did you?"
"Never mind that, use wordless shields! Expelliarmus!" I shouted and aimed at him once again.
His brow furrowed in concentration and the jet of red light bounced off an invisible shield and flew off to Potter's right. He had the nerve to smirk at me and my temper soared.
I growled out a, "Sectumsempra!" from between gritted teeth.
His smirk faded and his brows furrowed in concentration again, but he wasn't quick enough. The spell caught him on the side of the face and a gash appeared across his cheek.
"You bastard!" he shouted as his hand flew to the bleeding gash.
I smirked and waved my wand, performing the counter sectum wordlessly.
Potter continued glaring at me, "That wasn't fair; I had no idea you were going to attack again."
"Oh, and the Dark Lord is going to invite you for tea before asking if he could possibly avada kedavra you? You'll have time to reason with him about the niceties of dueling then? Come off it, Potter, you have to be prepared!"
"I know! I just, I'm…" he trailed off and collapsed back to his knees.
"I can't do this, he's going to kill me within five minutes and then there's nothing standing between him and power." He tossed his wand from him in frustration and buried his face in his hands.
I crossed the room and picked up his wand. His shoulders shook as his body gave way to silent tears. I sighed heavily and sat next to him on the floor, my joints reminding me of my age. I placed his wand next to him and stared off at the other wall, attempting to give him time to breathe.
He took a deep, shaky breath and tilted his head back with his eyes closed. "I'm not ready, Snape. I don't think I'm ever going to be ready. Everyone makes a big deal about me surviving him as a baby, but that had nothing to do with my magical abilities. My mum is the one that should be famous; it was her magic that made Voldemort unable to touch me."
I merely stared at the side of his face. The boy was forced to grow up quickly when he hit the wizarding world. He was thrust into a life that he had no say in. He looked a lot more vulnerable, this boy who carried so much on his shoulders. A pang of a flitting emotion stuck between pity and sympathy hit my chest. I turned my head and stared at my feet stretched in front of me.
"Perhaps, Potter, you are right about Lily deserving more recognition. You are not, however, right about being unable to defeat the Dark Lord. You have shown abilities far past any wizard your age, you merely need discipline and training. You are by no means ready to face the Dark Lord today, but you will be, Potter. I aim to make sure of it."
Potter wiped his face hastily before he turned to flash a grin. "You may be a greasy bastard, Snape, but I do appreciate your help."
"Believe me, Potter, it is for the greater good of the wizarding world. I do not enjoy your company." I stood and made my way towards the door, "I think that's enough for now. Go try a few exercises to clear your mind. As dimwitted as you are, I should hope this proves an easy task. However, you've proven me wrong before, Potter."
I could feel the anger radiating from him and I smiled to myself as I left the room. The anger should rid him of his self doubt for a while. I made my way into the kitchen to find Lupin and Kingsley conversing in hushed tones. They stopped speaking the instant they saw me.
"Lupin, Kingsley," I spat their names at them before rummaging through the cupboards in search of something edible.
"Snape, how is Harry's training going?" Lupin's voice took an icy edge whenever he spoke to me.
"As well as could be expected from someone with the name Potter," I turned to him with a sneer.
Lupin stood to his feet and gripped the edge of the table hard. "You will not insult James in Sirius' house. I won't allow it, Snape. You've got your damn reasons, but I don't care. You're not worthy to speak their names."
"Why is that, Lupin? Because of Albus' orders? Because no matter what I've done for the Order, you all still view me as a Death Eater? Lupin, it is not my fault Sirius rushed ahead of everyone to try to save Potter. I did not put a wand to his head and guide him into the Ministry of Magic headquarters. I did not push him behind that veil!"
Lupin's lip curled and he made a move to lunge at me; Kingsley grabbed onto the back of his jacket. "Don't, Remus. He's right, you can't keep holding onto Sirius like this. It is no more Snape's fault than it is Harry's. It is no more your fault than it is mine. Sirius knew what he was risking when he left; he only cared about getting to Harry. We know if he had followed orders he'd be alive. The one you can be righteously angry at is Sirius."
Lupin turned on him at that, fist raised.
"Remus, stop!" came Harry's shocked voice. "It might not be something you want to hear, but Kingsley is right. We need to stop fighting each other. Sirius is gone. We need to unite and defeat Voldemort. We need to keep level heads…for Sirius' memory, for my parent's memory, and for the memory of all those lost."
Potter approached Lupin and hugged him tightly. Kingsley and I left the room, giving the two their privacy. Kingsley turned to me and looked me up and down.
"Snape, I know you are never going to praise the names Sirius Black or James Potter, but you could cut back on your insults in front of Harry and Remus. They're clinging to the other as family. Harry is the only thing left behind from the people who were like brothers to Remus, and Remus is the only link Harry has left to his parents. Even you can understand the frail barrier stopping their emotions from spilling over."
I rolled my eyes and made my way upstairs to the room that had been provided to me. I sunk onto my bed and took in a deep, shuddering breath. My stomach lurched suddenly and I turned my head to vomit violently. A flick of my wand and the mess disappeared. I rubbed the bridge of my nose slowly and took another deep breath. I had used a great deal of magical energy training Potter, and the scene downstairs brought back memories of Albus. "Damn you, old man. Why did you ever think I was strong enough do to this?" I mumbled before lying down on the bed. I grabbed the potion on the stand and downed it quickly. I fell asleep within moments; the potion blocking any dreams from ruining my slumber.
Granger's voice rattling off information at the speed of light is something no one should ever wake up to. I glared at the door as though doing so would silence the know-it-all. When she kept rattling on, I stood to my feet and stormed to the door, building up my menacing glare to a full out death glare. I flung the door open and came face to face with Granger and Potter. Potter had the audacity to smile and wave, Granger had the courtesy to look frightened.
"Granger, as much as I'm sure you're eager to spout off more useless knowledge, can you do so away from my door? Some of us do tend to sleep." I snarled before slamming the door behind me. I stomped past them and down the stairs, in desperate need of coffee or tea.
I heard Potter bound down the stairs after me, "So, what are we doing today?"
I growled in response and continued my search for coffee grounds or tea leaves.
"Coffee's in the top right cupboard above your head," Potter said with amusement clearly in his voice.
After brewing and pouring myself some coffee, I sat at the table; Potter sitting down across from me.
"Now that you're slightly less grumpy, what are we doing today?" he asked again.
"Occlumency lessons, Potter, hopefully you can close your thick head to me. If not we're starting from the basics again and it's not going to be pretty," I said slowly.
"I doubt anything with you would be something I'd willingly describe as pretty." He laughed at his own joke and I merely arched an eyebrow in response.
"You're making this worse on yourself, Potter, just remember that."