A/N: So... I'm back! And while I really appreciate how many people have put me on their Story Alert & Story Favorite, I wish some might actually review T_T It would help me out a lot. I'm open to criticism! Just... don't attack me and tell me how stupid my story is or anything XD I might cry haha.
Warnings: Same as before.
"Like a Fifty Ton Gorilla!"
The rest of the day went by slowly, much too slowly, the clock ticking off one second at a time, increasing Harry's anxiety with each that passed. He sat at the Gryffindor table with his classmates, half of him wishing dinner would hurry up and end, the other half hoping it never would--that Dumbledore would call for a Never-Ending Feast so as to rescue Harry from his detention that night. The logical part of his brain knew time was passing at its usual pace, that it never changed, but still the uneasy teen insisted it was mocking him. Time was purposefully slowing down, simply to make him nervous while it laughed in the background.
"Harry? Are you alright?" a concerned looking Hermione asked. "You haven't even touched your plate."
Looking down, harry saw she was right. He forced a smile onto his face and turned to look at his bushy-haired friend.
"Fine, Hermoine. I'm just not very hungry." Then he glanced up at the Staff Table.
First, his eyes met Dumbledore's, who gave him a wink. Unsure what to make of it, Harry let his gaze travel down one side of the table, until it landed on Snape. The intimidating Potions Master was staring at him intently, but it seemed like he was deep in thought, unaware of what he was doing. Harry stared back at him, wondering what the other was thinking, but knowing better than to hope the man might tell him. When Malfoy kisses Ron and they decide to have lots of mini Weasleys maybe.
All at once, Snape came back to himself, and harry could pinpoint the exact moment he recognized who he was looking at. He blinked, upon recentering himself, then some emotion the Gryffindor couldn't identify flickered across his face when he caught Harry's stare. For one second, everything else melted away. The two looked at each other across the Great Hall unflinchingly, and Harry forgot just why he had been so worried. Something in his heard pushed forward, Harry almost physically reached out for Snape, but then something hard slammed into the green-eyed teen's back and the moment broke.
"What the bloody hell was that??" Harry cried out, half in shock at the blow, half angry that he'd been distracted form looking at Snape. Rather foolish idea, he realized, when his outburst caused Hermione to refocus her concern on him. Ron, however, just laughed, along with the rest of the Gryffindors around him.
"I just slapped you on the back mate! You left us so I was helping you back."
Harry already had a goblet filled with pumpkin juice in his hand, prepared to shove it down his red-haired friend's throat, goblet and all, before he regained control of his senses and pushed the cup away. Inwardly he was confused, but he did his best to hide it as he exclaimed,
"Just slapped me on the back?? Ron, you've got a slap like a fifty ton gorilla! Have you been working out with Grawp lately?"
He slid his gaze back up to the Staff Table in time to see Snape rise form it, and exit through the teachers' door back to the corridors. Having had enough of waiting and pretending to eat, Harry muttered an excuse about getting ready for detention and left the Great Hall. He didn't notice the look Hermione and Ron shared as he walked out, so intent was he on meeting up with Snape.
Standing by himself in the Entrance Hall, Harry took some time to ponder what had just happened. This was the first encounter the boy had had with a Snape who wasn't snarling or glaring at him with contempt. What could it mean? Was the head of Slytherin house getting nicer? Harry made a mental note to be on the lookout for sparkly pink unicorns, just in case. And another one to bring ear pulugs to next Potions lesson. Just in case. But another thing he wanted to think about was his reaction to the interruption. He'd been positively furious for a while there. Why? What was so important about looking at the greasy git that he'd almost attack his best friend for getting in the way? He didn't have a clue.
Heaving a great sigh, Harry headed off for the dungeons, no closer to figuring things out than when he started. Perhaps, he thought, Snape is still in his not-bad mood, and he'll explain some of this. Whatever was happening, he hoped it didn't ahve to do with the newfound knowledge Professor Dumbledore had given him. Was the information worming its way into his skull and creating a bond between them? Suppressing a shudder, Harry decided that if he ever called Snape "Daddy", he'd sacrifice himself to the Giant Squid, come back as a ghost, and spend eternity haunting the U-bends with Moaning Myrtle. And if anyone dared to throw a book through his head, he'd rip out their throats. Well... pay someone who was a little more solid to. ...With his transparent money? Dammit. Well, hopefully, it'd never come to that.