A/N Sorry for the delay. Still getting back on my feet. Just so you know, I only have two more chapters planned for this story. After the cup, we'll close up the summer and then I'll start publishing the new story that will pick up at the start of Harry's fourth year. Hope you all stay with me for the ride!

Thanks again for all of your reviews.

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"Again."

Harry groaned at the command and massaged his aching head. Although he was getting much better at blocking Snape's attempts to invade his mind, it was still painful to throw off the mental onslaught, not to mention entirely draining. His head was throbbing and he felt a large patch of perspiration gathering on his back where it met the backrest of the wooden chair. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he steeled himself and nodded his consent.

"Legilimens!"

He pushed back the force of the intrusion as best as he could, but he could still see the flashes of memory. Uncle Vernon was dragging him out of the car by the scruff of his neck after picking him up from the Hogwart's Express. The dementor attack on the Quidditch field. Seeing his splintered and ruined Nimbus. Then, the oppressive mental torture of his time in the grove. Harry let forth a burst of resistance and pushed Snape from his mind.

"Better, much better," the potions master grudingly admitted. "You have at least practiced a little. What a unique change from your usual refusal to do anything that you are told."

Harry scowled at his professor. Although he was learning that Snape's bark was worse than his bite, he hated it when the man took a compliment and found a way to warp it into an insult. It seemed that no matter how hard Harry worked, he was never going to win the black clad human bat's approval.

"I have been practicing. Really hard," he protested through his clenched teeth.

It would not do to lose his temper. He now knew that Sirius watched these lessons through a magical window that he made from the wall between the library and the study. Knowing that his godfather was just a heartbeat away in case Snape got carried away with the verbal abuse had given Harry much needed reassurance and, subsequently, he was able to focus more on the actual task at hand, rather than the sparring match that ultimately threatened to break out.

"Hmmpf," Snape grumbled, refusing to give an inch.

Inwardly, he was pleased to see that Potter was not going to shirk off this duty. It was too important for the boy's own survival to treat these lessons as a game. He found himself unexpectedly relieved that the boy was making progress. In time, if he continued to learn at this pace, he might have a small chance at protecting himself from the Dark Lord long enough for it to make a difference.

"Don't get too cocky just yet, Potter," he snarled. "You still have a long way to go. School will resume soon and I'm sure that the temptation to go back to your old ways of laziness and apathy will be too strong for you to resist."

Seeing the boy taking umbrage at the insult, Snape took advantage of Harry's momentary distraction to attack him unannounced. In one fluid undetected motion, he raised his wand.

"Legilimens!"

Caught off guard, Harry fell to the floor. He was angry. How dare Snape invade him without his consent! He didn't even bother trying to mentally block the assault. Raising his wand he yelled.

"Protego!"

Harry felt a large burst of light erupt from his middle and the next thing he knew, he was seeing a very clear image, as detailed as watching a movie. Only these memories were not his own.

A group of teenagers were by the large tree at Hogwarts. Harry recognized his father, Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew. His father was running a hand through his already messy hair as he tossed a snitch around, much to the delight of Pettigrew. Sirius was complaining of being horribly bored while Lupin leaned idly in the background. To his horror, he watched as the Marauders teased a teenage Snape as he studiously concentrated on a book some ways away. The future demon of the dungeon looked pale and nervous. It seemed that he only wanted to just be left alone. Harry could hear the taunts coming from his father and godfather. They were being so cruel! How could his father be acting this way? Just as he watched James hex Snape into an upside down position as his robes fell down around his neck, he felt the firm presence of the adult Snape forcibly remove his from his mind....

"Enough!"

Harry was flung back onto the ground abruptly. When he dared to look up, he saw Snape, red faced and panting deeply look down on him with a glare of absolute loathing. Harry couldn't move. He didn't know what to say. Blinking rapidly, his mind whirred with the assault of conflicting emotions. Disappointment at his teen aged father's unprovoked antics, embarrassment for himself and his professor, mild exhilaration at finally throwing off Snape, and to such a degree to get an unexpected glance inside the older man's mind.

His head spun and before he knew it, Snape was gathering his robes and stalking out of the room. Harry realized that he couldn't let him go like that. The man's hatred of his deceased father had become all too apparent and Harry wasn't sure that he disagreed with him. Pushing himself up off of the floor, he sprinted for the door, shoving past Sirius who had come at a run into the other room after seeing his distress.

"Professor! Professor Snape! Please, wait!" he called out, hopeful that the man would at least take a second to respond, but feeling sure that he wouldn't. Harry's much faster reflexes made up the difference in speed and he reached the parlor in time to see Snape grab the jar of floo powder.

"Professor, please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He wanted the man to know that he had not been actively attempting to breach his mind and access what was obviously a very private memory.

"Professor!" he called out, a little more forcefully. At his new tone, Snape whirled around finally and glared at him with all the force of a demon. Harry shrunk back from the look of hatred in Snape's eyes, but he had to say something.

"I'm sorry, Professor. They were very wrong to do what they did. I...I don't know what to say." Harry gave Snape a compassionate and pleading look. He knew that no matter what he said, he just had visual confirmation that everything Snape had ever said about James Potter was true.

Snape just continued to glare at him. They locked eyes in a test of wills, Snape's black orbs piercing the sadness in Harry's emeralds. Harry's shoulders sagged as he realized that he could never make amends for the pain the Marauders had wrought onto Snape during their years. It was clear, just from those few seconds of memories that, while the Marauders were four in number and strength, they had been picking on a solitary lonely student. No wonder the man hated them.

Snape saw the broken countenance of the boy. If nothing else, finally little Potter was seeing for himself that his bully of a father had been far from perfect. If it wasn't for the genuinely hurt look in the eyes that screamed to him of Lily, it would have been one of Severus' finest moments. He continued to hold the boy in his glare to see if he would try to make excuses, but Potter didn't. He just stood there.

"I didn't know, Professor. I swear. It wasn't right," he finished hoarsely. Severus watched the boy swallow hard, pleading with his green stare for the man to believe that he felt regret for the abuses that had been brought against the teen-aged him.

If Severus had been a younger man, he would have hexed the boy, probably Obliviated his memory for the insult. His memories of that time were private and he certainly didn't need the spoiled son of one of his tormentors to be privy to the mental snapshots of the worst day of Snape's life. He was just thankful for the fact that he had been able to disconnect their link before he had had to relive the horrible words that led to losing the only person he had ever loved. He stared deep into the almond shaped green eyes and saw genuine compassion in them. Lily's compassion. She had tried to intervene that black day and he had cast her off without a thought to the lifelong consequences that he now endured. He had made a vow to protect this boy and he would keep it. His rash actions as a younger man cost him too dearly when he acted without thinking.

He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"You will forget what you saw today and we will never speak of it again, if you know what is good for you," he sneered in a menacing tone. Considering a minute, Severus dug into his robe pocket and retrieved a small flat rectangular package wrapped into plain brown paper. Putting on a mask of indifference, he thrust the package at the dumbfounded boy.

"As the mutt is tutoring you in Potions this summer, do us both a favor and utilize this before you dare to come into my classroom next term. Be better prepared next week. I will not go as easy on you," he spit out as he threw the powder into the fireplace and vanished into the green flames.

Harry stood without moving for a moment, staring at the place where the potions master had just disappeared. He was confused, hurt, angry and a little betrayed. He didn't know what to think or what to say. Looking down at the package in his hand, he was almost afraid to untie the string holding it together. He took a deep breath and slowly untied the messy knot before carefully pulling away the brown covering. It was a book.

The Complete Companion to Intermediate Potions by S.T. Snape, PM, OoM 1st cl

Harry stared at the tome, awestruck. Who knew that Snape had published works? He thumbed through the pages and saw detailed diagrams and photos covering all aspects of the fine art of potion making. He recognized most of them as part of the fourth year curriculum that Sirius had obtained to help with his lessons. A thought suddenly occurred to him, both confusing and a bit frightening.

Snape had given him a birthday gift.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Sirius' voice came to him from across the room where he had been standing in the doorway. He wasn't sure what had just taken place between Snape and his godson, but it concerned him.

Harry looked up and felt a pang of distaste towards his godfather. In the memory, Sirius had, of course, been right next to James, egging him on and backing him up. It was Sirius' claims of boredom that had started the whole scene. Of course, Harry had always known that the Marauders had been pranksters and troublemakers, but he would never have believed that his beloved father and adored godfather could have been so utterly cruel. It was a side that Harry had not known about them and, to be perfectly honest, he would have preferred to have always kept it that way.

"I'm okay, Sirius." He was tired and confused and hurt and he really did not want to be around his godfather right now. It was too painful to have all of his beliefs in his father's and Sirius' goodness to be ripped away and left with a new vision of a bonafide reason for Snape's ire against him all these years. In a moment, all Harry had ever known had been shattered.

"You don't sound okay, Harry. What did Severus do to you?" Sirius was growing increasingly concerned and a little irritated. Had he not warned Snape to be decent to the boy?

Harry frowned. "He didn't do anything to me. I'm fine," he growled. He just wanted to be left alone before he said something that he might regret. "I'm tired, Sirius. May I go up to my room, please? I want to rest."

"Harry...you don't sound..," Sirius tried to protest, but Harry interrupted him. "I am fine, Sirius. Could we please just leave it? I'm tired from my lesson."

Sirius didn't like the look on Harry's face or the tone in his voice. Whatever he had seen during his lesson had upset him greatly. He walked over to Harry and put a hand on the small shoulder, attempting to get the boy to look at him. After the misunderstanding they had already suffered through this week, he was not about to lose his godson again.

"Harry, what happened during your lesson that upset you so badly? Please tell me. I'm really starting to worry," he said, beseechingly.

Harry stood looking at his trainers for a minute. He didn't want to have this conversation, but he too was remembering what their lack of communication recently had cost both his godfather and himself.

"If I ask you a question, do you promise to answer me honestly?" He tilted his head up and Sirius drew in a pained breath at the hurt look on Harry's face.

"Of course I do. I'll never lie to you, Harry," he answered, a little bit defensively. Gently, he put an arm around his godson and slowly maneuvered him over to a small sofa where they sat down together. "What do you want to know?"

Harry bit down on his bottom lip and frowned as he tried to formulate the words. He didn't know how to phrase his question without sounding accusatory, so he just decided to be blunt.

"What did Snape ever do to you and Dad to make you hate him so much? Why would you have humiliated him like that in front of everyone at school just...just because you were bored, Sirius?"

Harry look up hopefully at his godfather, wishing desperately that Sirius would tell him a great tale about how Snape had done something terribly mean and dangerous to the Marauders and that their actions were merely well deserved payback. His hope was dashed by the guilty look that had spread across his godfather's face.

"Oh. I'm surprised that Severus allowed you to see that memory," he said quietly, in a voice that Harry swore was full of shame.

Harry felt a well of bitterness rise up into his throat. Sirius knew exactly what he had just seen and wasn't even trying to defend himself or Harry's father. It must be exactly what Harry thought it was and the realization of it made him sick.

"He didn't let me see it. I cast a shield charm and pushed myself into his mind," he spat out caustically. Harry turned his gaze away from Sirius and stared down at his trainers angrily. He was seething with indignation and was having a hard time accepting the fact that his ideas of the innate goodness of the two men in his life he loved most of all were being thrown out the window.

Sirius was struggling to regain his composure. Somehow, he had always known that his reckless past as an arrogant boy would come back to haunt him. He didn't know how, but that day was here and it was happening in the worst manner possible. He didn't know how he would defend himself in front of the boy that he was trying so hard to be a good role model for. How could he ever expect to have the moral authority to correct Harry's behavior when his own had been so abhorrent?

"What you have to understand, Harry, is that it is a complicated situation. Snape was not very pleasant to us either. Believe me when I tell you that he deserved most of what he got from us." Even as he spoke, Sirius realized that his words were a poor attempt to justify his adolescent behavior. He just didn't know what else to say.

"So, what had he done that day to deserve what my dad did to him?" Harry asked incredulously. He was once again staring at Sirius, his green eyes begging for a satisfactory explanation.

Sirius desperately tried to come up with an excuse, some rationalization, but he realized that there had been none. That day, after the exam, they were just four bored teenagers looking for something amusing to do on a sunny day at school and coming up with nothing better than picking on a easy target of a loner who had, by virtue of his friendship with a girl that James fancied and his affiliation with Slytherin House, incurred their perpetual disdain.

He looked into his godson's trusting eyes and realized that he owed the boy the cold hard truth, regardless of the personal fall that he would surely earn for himself in the boy's esteem.

"Nothing, Harry. He had done nothing that day," he finished miserably.

"Why, Sirius? Why him? You...you were all Gryffindors. There were four of you. Why pick on one guy who wasn't even bothering you?" Harry's voice was hard and tinged with disbelief. The look on his face was shaming Sirius.

Sirius clasped his hands together and leaned his elbows on his knees as he composed his thoughts. The man that he became was having a hard time stomaching the actions of the boy that he had been. He and James had been two of a kind. Born into families of wealth and privilege, without a care in the world, they were cocky and arrogant. Of course, deep down they were good decent boys, but their upbringing as members of the wizarding inner circles gave them inflated values of self worth. How far they would both fall.

"Why him, Harry? Well, I suppose it was because he was close to Lily, which irrated James as he had always fancied your mother. Because, as a Slytherin, he represented everything I hated about my own family. Because, usually he gave as good as he got. Because...because he was an easy target with no one to defend him," he admitted sadly. "No one, of course, except your Mum."

At the mention of his mother, Harry's ears perked back up. "My Mum?"

Sirius gave him a confused look. "Yes, your mother. Didn't you see her in the memory?"

Harry shook his head. He had only seen the Marauders and Snape. He knew, by instinct, that there had been other witnesses, but the images had been so quick and fleeting and he had not been able to yank his attention away from the actions of James and Sirius.

"Oh." Sirius frowned. "Well, she was there that day. She was furious with us, demanding that your father let Severus down. He told her that he would if she would agree to go out with him." He smirked slightly when Harry's eyes went round from the statement. "She told him that she would rather date the giant squid."

Harry snorted a little. The idea of his mother giving his father a tongue lashing sounding just like something that Hermione would do to him or Ron. Apparently Lily was another fiery tempered witch.

"So, that's what made Dad put Snape down? I didn't see that far."

Sirius grimaced. Was it worth it to tell Harry the whole story? It was a pivotal day in the lives of all of them, Harry included. Before Sirius would let Snape near Harry for the Occlumency lessons, he had demanded that Albus tell him exactly why he trusted Snape so implicitly. Hearing the story of the prophecy and Snape's involvement in it had made Sirius want to hunt down the greasy git and torture him slowly.

Albus had talked him down after a fashion, reminding Sirius that everyone had done stupid things, without realizing the consequences that they would wrought. He pointedly reminded the outraged godfather of things in his own past that Sirius would have liked to change if he could. The business with almost exposing Remus' 'furry little problem' at school was one, and of course, his misplaced trust in Peter was another. Sirius was now haunted by the fact that he was indirectly responsible for the death of his best friends on two occasions. This one having been caused by his adolescent boredom. If only any of them had had any idea of what would eventually come of such arrogant, but innocent, jests. He steeled himself and resolved that his godson would hear the full truth.

"Yes. James released Severus. He was too busy flirting with your mother to notice that Snape hit him with a cutting curse and it wound up slashing James in the face. Of course, we were all furious about this, so we attacked. Lily tried to protect Severus, as he was horribly outnumbered. I'm not sure that she actually saw the wound on James' face at the time. She was too focused on Severus. She yelled again for us to leave him alone and James released him. Snape was, of course, horribly embarrassed. He...he called your mother a horrible name, saying that he didn't need her to defend him. She was hurt, very hurt. They never spoke again after that day."

He watched as Harry fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Eventually, he heard Harry clear his throat and speak in a small pained voice.

"Mudblood," he said, matter of factly.

"What?" Sirius asked, surprised out of his quiet reverie.

"Mudblood," Harry repeated. "Snape called my mother a Mudblood, didn't he?"

Sirius was taken aback by the observation. How had Harry known? Did Snape ever dare to talk about Lily like that in front of Harry? He would kill the man.

"How did you know, Harry? How do you even know that word?"

Harry fidgeted a little more and kept his eyes downcast as he picked at the lining of the sofa they were sitting on. "It's what people like Malfoy say to Hermione. I just assumed that it was something that Slytherin House teaches its students."

Sirius sighed and rubbed Harry's back. "Yes, he called her that. I don't think he really meant it though. They had been friends since childhood and were very close. I think he was just humiliated and lashed out at her. I'm not defending what Snape did that day, mind you. But, what James and I did that day most likely ruined their friendship. At the time, we were happy about it, but it makes me a little sick now, to tell you the truth. There is nothing noble about ripping a person away from someone who was otherwise friendless. You're right. It was not something that a good Gryffindor does."

Harry nodded sadly. It was now all too clear why Snape had always hated him. With Harry being the spitting image of James, it must be hard for the man to see past the face of the person who was responsible for so much personal injury. Suddenly, he just felt very tired.

"I think I want to go lay down for a while, Sirius," he said quietly.

Sirius frowned, concerned that Harry was still angry with him. "It's almost lunch time, Harry. I think you should stay down here and eat a little something."

Harry shook his head, refusing to meet his godfather's eyes. "I'm not hungry." He stood and turned to face the entryway. "May I go, please?"

A knot formed in Sirius' chest as he looked at his godson's back, the small shoulders hunched. There would be no more talking about this issue right now, he knew.

"Alright, Harry. Go ahead."

As Sirius watched his godson trudge slowly up the stairs to his room, his heart lurched at the notion that Harry would now see him for what he had been instead of what he was desperately trying to become. What was worse though, was the idea that James' son, who would never know first hand how brave his father had been during those dark years of resistance, would think less of the most kind and decent person Sirius had ever had the honor of knowing.

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Upstairs in his room, Harry lay on his bed in deep contemplation.

He was deeply disturbed by what he had learned today. All those times that Snape had told him about his father's arrogance, Harry had defended James with every ounce of his being. He had believed, without a doubt, that James Potter had been perfect. Kind, loving, honorable, brave, strong, selfless. After all, hadn't he sacrificed himself for his wife and son? Would someone who had not been a good person do that?

But there was no denying what he saw with his own eyes as he pushed his way into Snape's memories. No way of denying what his godfather had freely admitted happening. His world was shaken by the knowledge that, after all this time, his despised Potions Professor could actually have had good reason to be bitter about the past. How would Harry ever defend his father and godfather against the man's accusations ever again when he knew for himself that they had merit?

He rolled over onto his side and kicked his trainers off as he wrapped his arms around a pillow. It was hard to make sense of why his father and Sirius would have wanted to behave like bullies. All his life, Harry had been dealing with one bully or another. Uncle Vernon, Dudley, Malfoy. He was having a difficult time adjusting his thinking to be able to lump the two men in his life that he had put up on pedestals into the same group as the ones that had terrorized and ridiculed him. But they had acted the same, hadn't they?

For hours, he pondered the reasons and the what fors. What would have made James and Sirius act the way they did? Even Remus, kind gentle Remus, had stood by and done nothing to rein in his friends when they tormented a weaker kid. Where were the men that he had been told about? The ones that had fought against Voldemort and his band of Death Eaters. The ones that had risked their lives on a daily basis during the war to bring victory to the Light. That had dueled and bled to triumph over darkness. The ones that went marching to their deaths willingly if it meant that another generation of witches and wizards would not have to be oppressed by an evil soulless dark lord.

His father had been such a man. He knew this as much as he knew his own face. His godfather was too. Sirius was a fighter. He had fought against his own family as they embraced the darkness at much personal risk. Not actually having ever had a family, Harry didn't know how tough it must have been for his godfather to turn his back on his parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins. But he had done it. It had cost him everything, but he did it anyway, knowing that he was on the right side of goodness. James had lost his life because he fought for his beliefs, enraging a mad man who would come one Halloween night to murder a young couple and their infant son.

Harry realized that the children James and Sirius had been didn't present an accurate portrayal of the men that they would become. They were young and stupid, but they were ultimately good people who just made a few bad mistakes. Harry wondered what kind of mistakes he would make and if, someday, his son would look at what his father had done as a teenager and attempt to pass judgment on him.

Turning over, he looked at the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was almost time for tea. He pushed himself up off of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom to wash up. He needed to talk to his godfather. The past could not be erased, but maybe, it wasn't too late to make amends.

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In the study, Sirius stood at the window not really seeing the pleasantly manicured lawn and the lush flower beds that made up the side garden. His mind was too focused on the past. Things he had done, pranks he pulled, hurtful words he had said. Although it had been so very long ago, his past was part of him and no matter how hard he might wish, he couldn't change it.

He was ashamed that his godson had seen him in such a poor light. How could Harry have any respect for him now? Harry might look like a little twin of James, but his personality was so much more Lily. He didn't make mischief for no reason, he was thoughtful and polite. He would never be guilty of half the things that Sirius and James were. Harry was a really good kid. Even with such an enormous responsibility placed on his thin small shoulders, Harry had not bowed under the pressure. He stood his ground and endured it. Sirius had never thougt that he would feel inadequate in the shadow of a fourteen year old.

As he gazed out at nothing in particular, hands folded behind his back, he barely heard the small knock at the door. Turning, he saw Harry peeking through the paned glass, his eyes asking for permission to enter. Giving the boy a warm smile, he beckoned him in, nervous about the reception he might receive now that Harry had seen for himself how flawed his godfather was.

Harry walked over to him slowly, a thoughtful look on his face that Sirius couldn't decipher. It made the man even more nervous. He watched as Harry took a moment, his eyebrows furroughed in concentration as he formulated his thoughts. Finally, an agonizing moment later, he spoke.

"Sirius, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I saw today," he began, only to be interrupted by his nervous godfather who was anxious to plead his case.

"Harry, please try to understand...," Sirius started before Harry held a hand up. Startled, Sirius stopped in mid speech as his godson approached him and wrapped his arms around his waist. As Harry pressed his head into Sirius's chest, Sirius heard him speak softly, but with strong emotion.

"Sirius, when I get older, I hope to be the kind of man that you are, and that my father was."

The stunned man fiercely hugged his godson, too choked up with emotion to be able to tell the boy that he hoped to one day be half the man that Harry was obviously going to be.

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As he sat in the darkness, the heavy rain pounding on the windows relentlessly, Sirius felt Harry shift slightly in his arms, relieving some of the numbness that came with sitting too long in one position. Although it had been hours, his heart was still pounding with fear.

Not long after Sirius had gone to bed, he was alerted by the alarm spell he had cast on his and Harry's bedrooms, as well as the sprog map, that his godson was having another nightmare. When he had crashed into Harry's room, the boy was writhing on the bed, his lightening bolt scar burning a fierce red. Sirius had been as scared as he had ever been in his life until Harry finally awoke, trembling and disoriented.

It had not been as bad as the last one. Harry had managed to not sick up and he wasn't crying. Sirius was desperately hoping that the lesser nature of the night terror had been more about the lower degree of a bad dream but, upon hearing Harry recount the vivid detail of the killing curse and the surrounding events, the godfather paled in fear that the reason for his boy to have been less affected might have more to do with his growing proficiency in Occlumency. The knowledge shook him to his very core.

Harry had not wanted to go back to sleep after it was all over. It wasn't until his godfather had climbed into bed behind him, his back pressed against the headboard as he took the boy into an embrace, that Harry had turned a bit onto his side, arms gripping tightly to Sirius' left arm as his godfather's right hand rubbed the small quivering back. Eventually, Harry's breathing had become deep and even again and, even though Sirius was uncomfortable, the idea of leaving his child to face the rest of the night without this comfort never occurred to him. He stayed through the night allowing Harry to sleep in the security of his powerful arms. Deep down, Sirius knew that he couldn't do anything to keep these terrors from infiltrating the boy's sleep, but he could let Harry know, in every way possible, that he was not alone.

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Snape hadn't been kidding. When he returned the next Friday for the lesson (having had the forethought to deposit some of his more personal memories in a pensieve this time), he drove Harry relentlessly. What was even more impressive than the powerful resistance Harry had been able to put up was the fact that the boy's thoughts had been semi focused on the idea that it was almost time to go the the Cup and that soon his grounding would be over. He missed flying, especially on the really fine days of the fading summer.

As he sat in the hard backed chair in the library, panting from the exertion of shielding himself, he saw Sirius come into the library.

"Harry, it's lunchtime," he announced.

Harry just nodded, still too tired to stand up just yet. He watched as Snape began to stalk towards the door.

"Professor?" he called, surprised when Snape actually stopped to regard him. "Would you like to join us?"

Snape's eyes widened for a second, looking for subterfuge in the green orbs that stared at him. He was even more shocked by hearing the voice behind him.

"Yes, Severus. Harry and I would love to have your company if you would like to stay."

Snape spun around slowly. Surely, the two were playing at something. He didn't know what, but he didn't like it. He stared with distrust into Black's gray eyes and saw nothing in them that smacked of deception. The idea that the invitation might be genuine unnerved him even more than it would have had they been trying to pull one over on him.

"I don't really think so," he sneered slightly, put off by the uncomfortable nature of the situation at hand before sweeping from the room.

Once again, he found himself chased by the slight framed Potter clone as he made his way to the parlor.

"Professor? I wanted to thank you for my book. It's been a great help to me so far."

Severus stared at the boy who was once again exuding a genuine air. What was it about this child that brought out the uncertainty in him? He nodded curtly, but refrained from spitting out a harsh retort.

Encouraged, Harry decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Maybe next week you could stay for lunch? We really would enjoy having you."

Severus knitted his eyebrows as if confused before he forced his face into another placid stare.

"Perhaps," he replied, non-committally before stepping briskly into the green flames.