Harry Potter and all the characters involved do not belong to me, they belong to J K Rowling.
"Normal speech"
'Thinking'
Flashback
"Parseltongue"
Once he got back to the room he was staying in, Harry looked around before realizing that he didn't know where he should keep Snape. Standing at the entrance, he asked "Ssssnape, where do you want to ssstay?"
"Sssssomewhere ssssoft and warm would be nice," Snape replied. "And Potter, even though I'm a ssssnake, I'm sssstill your professssor and you ssssshall addressssss me asssss sssssuch."
"Uh… the only place I can think of that fitsssss isssss my bed. And sssssorry Ssssir."
"That'sssssss fine."
Harry decided to not think about the fact that he would be sharing a bed with Snape and went into the bedroom. The bed wasn't big enough for both him and Snape since he moved around in his sleep and was scared that he'd accidently roll onto Snape, so he pulled out his wand and transfigured the bed so it was larger before setting Snape down on one side.
Snape immediately curled up as much as he could without hurting himself and with a sleepy "Thanksssss" he fell asleep, leaving Harry to wonder how he was going to deal with taking care of a snakey Snape.
Since he had nothing better to do and since he had to keep Snape close by, Harry placed a charm on Snape that would alert him if Snape woke up, and then he left his chambers to go to the library.
On the way there, he ran into Dumbledore.
"Harry, my boy. Thank you for agreeing to take care of Professor Snape. He's not the easiest of people to get along with, although I'm sure that his being a snake helps things somewhat."
Harry could only look in surprise at how Dumbledore always seemed to know what was going on at Hogwarts. "Uh, you're welcome Professor. I only did what anyone else in my position would do."
Dumbledore chuckled "I don't doubt that. I suppose you're off to the library so you don't get bored looking after Severus?"
"Er, yeah. I was hoping to read ahead on some of the material that everyone who returns would be doing in their eighth year. Hermione'd be proud."
"Yes, Miss Granger is the sort who would encourage you to do something like this. Well don't let me keep you waiting; I'm sure that once Severus wakes up, he'll try to make his way to his rooms instead of resting like he should. You'd best get back before that happens."
"Alright Professor," Harry replied as he started walking to the library once again.
When Harry left the library and headed back to his chambers, he had quite a large stack of books with him. There were multiple books on Potions and DADA, as well as a few books on Transfiguration and Charms, and a book on Herbology and one on Quidditch, just for the hell of it.
Once Harry said the password; "basilisk", and entered his rooms, he set the stack of books down on a table near his bed, and checked up on Snape. He was still in his snake form, and still sleeping deeply, so Harry got under the covers on the other side of the bed and accio'ed the first set of books, on DADA. It was the subject he knew best, so he figured that it would be best to just read that first and get it out of the way. Halfway through the first of three books on DADA that Harry had borrowed, he accio'ed a roll of parchment and a self-inking quill, and began to take notes on the spells and theories that he'd read about.
He'd never understood Hermione's love for knowledge before, but now it finally made sense. There was so much to learn, and he found that once he did learn it, he wanted to know more. It got to the point that he didn't notice the charm he'd placed on Snape warning him that Snape was waking up, allowing Snape the opportunity to sneak out of bed while he was engrossed in his learning. It was only by chance that he happened to look up from his parchment and notice that Snape was gone.
Swearing to himself, Harry clambered out of bed and began looking for Snape. He figured that Snape would try to go to his dungeons, so he ran out of his room and headed down there. He didn't know how long Snape had disappeared for, so he figured he'd start in the dungeons and work his way back to his room. In his haste, he didn't notice the black snake curled up near the fire.
When Harry got to the dungeons, he cast a charm to improve his hearing, and then called out in Parseltongue "Professsssor Sssssnape. Are you here? You're not ssssupposssssssed to be moving." Getting frustrated he added "Anssssswer me damnit." Not hearing any reply, even with his enhanced hearing, he asked the snake portrait that guarded Snape's private chambers "Do you know if a black ssssnake with a blue sssstripe down itssssss back has come down here recently? I need to find him, he'sssss injured."
To his dismay, the snake replied "No sssssnakes have passsssed by here."
'Damnit. If he's not down here, then he must be somewhere in between my rooms and the dungeons. But where?' Then Harry remembered the Marauder's Map. Dashing all the way back to his rooms, he dug through his trunk until he found the enchanted parchment. Tapping it with his wand, he muttered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Once the map had finished forming, he quickly scanned it for the dot labelled Severus Snape. It wasn't in the dungeons, or anywhere between his rooms and the dungeons. Harry finally spotted it in his rooms. 'Did that mean that Snape never left?' Harry wondered.
Harry tapped the map with his hand and muttered "Mischief managed" before dropping it back in his trunk and proceeding to search his rooms more thoroughly.
"Professssor," he hissed in Parseltongue, "where are you?"
He heard a faint reply coming from his living room, so he ran into it and looked around for Snape. "Ssssir? Where are you— Oh. There you are," Harry exclaimed as he spotted Snape curled up near his fireplace. Relieved to finally have found him, Harry dropped into one of the armchairs. "Professssor, you know that you aren't sssssupposed to be moving. It hassssn't even been a day yet. What made you think that you'd magically be healed?"
"Sssshut up, Potter."
"I will not!"
"Twenty pointssss from Gryffindor!"
Harry laughed. "Professssor, you can't take pointssss from my house."
"And why not? Doesss Gryffindor'sssss Golden Boy think that becausssse he is the Boy-Who-Lived, he is exempt from getting houssse pointssss taken from hissss housssse?" Somehow even as a snake, Snape managed to sneer.
At hearing Snape's words, Harry flinched. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he replied "Professsssor, that'ssss not true, sssso don't put wordssss in my mouth. And don't call me that, I hate the attention that I get from being the Boy Who Lived. That'ssss all people ever ssssee me asss, and they never ssssee Harry. What I meant wassss, you can't take pointssss if classsses haven't ssstarted yet. It'sss sssstill ssssummer."
"You mean you aren't an attention sssseeking prat then?" Snape hissed, smirking, if it were possible for a snake to do so.
Harry opened his mouth to snap at Snape, and then he realized that Snape was teasing him, but still asking a serious question, and that from Snape's viewpoint, that's how Harry appeared. "No, I'm not. Thingssss just always sssseem to happen to me, becausssse I'm the Boy Who Lived," Harry replied sadly. "Ssssometimes all I want is to be normal for a change."
"Your father wasss an attention ssseeking prat."
"My father wassss many thingssss, one of which may have been an attention sssseeking prat. I wouldn't know, becausssse I never knew him. But I'm not my father, and you need to ssstop viewing me assss him, Professssor. I'm jussst Harry."
Harry looked so sad, sitting there, that Snape couldn't help but uncoil himself and slither over to Harry to rest his head on Harry's leg in a gesture of comfort.
Harry looked at Snape in surprise, and then smiled. Maybe they could get along for however long Snape was going to be staying in Harry's chambers. And deep down, Harry hoped that Snape might also learn to see him as just Harry, instead of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.
