Disclaimer: Does anyone ever read these things? If so, the characters herein and their hoggy, warty world do not belong to me in any sense other than the books I bought.

ooOOoo

Chapter 32: Headlock

There was a high-pitched ringing in Harry's ears.

"Wh– What did you say?"

"I believe you heard me quite well enough. I asked if you were going to say sorry to Lily Evans."

"Oh… I thought…"

"That I had asked you to apologise to your mother? Yes. I did. Lily Evans, in fact."

Lily was gaping at them as if they'd run mad. "What sort of game are you playing, Snape?"

Severus levelled an arctic stare at her. Lily visibly braced herself at the chill. "Me? Why don't you ask your son? The one who claims to be from another dimension, but is in fact from the future? So, Harry… why can't you bear looking at you mother? It's not like she's ugly or anything."

Harry was shaking. He buried his face in his hands. He barely heard Lily asking, "Stop acting crazy, Snape… can't you see how much you've upset him? Harry? Harry? Do you want me to call Madam Pomfrey?"

"Answer her, Harry. Answer your mother."

"Shut up, Snape – you're not helping."

Severus spat venomously, "I think I've done enough helping for him. Come on, Harry. It's rude to ignore your mum. Why won't you look at her?"

His voice sounding like it was coming from another person, Harry whispered through his fingers, "Because… because… because she'll turn out like him."

"Who?" that soft scalpel of a voice asked. "Your father James?"

"Yes."

"Ah." That soft exhalation was the final straw. Breathing heavily as iron bands around his chest tried to smother him, Harry leapt to his feet and charged out of the Infirmary, knocking past Lily.

But when he tried to push past someone in the door, that someone turned out to be strong and grabbed hold of him, holding tighter when Harry struggled, pushing him against the wall and twisting his arm up behind his back until Harry cried out at the pain.

"Did you hurt her?" that someone hissed in his ear.

"James! James Potter, let him go this instant!" Lily said, her voice high and as tight as Harry's throat. Harry was released with a shove that sent him face-first into the wall, and when he looked around to get his bearings again he saw Lily watching him with dawning horror, her eyes darting back and forth between his face and James'. Harry tried to cover his face with his hands again, but it was too late.

"Oh, lord… Does Dumbledore know about you?" she asked, still shaking her head slowly.

Surprised by the question, Harry blurted out, "Yes."

"Oh, he does, does he?" Severus was standing behind Lily with his arms folded. "I expect the both of you thought it a great lark to have me running around after James Potter's time-travelling son."

Harry blanched at the poison in Snape's voice. "No… No, we never…"

"And I suppose you felt completely justified in not telling me how I was going to die?" he hissed.

"No – of course n-"

"Oh, save it for someone who believes your lies." As white-faced as Harry felt, Severus shoved past Harry and his parents.

"What's this time-travel clap-trap?" James called after Severus, who only quickened his steps. "Snape? What do you mean – my son?" When Severus didn't stop, James turned back to Harry. "What…?"

He stopped, jaw dropping. "Oh, no…" He shook his head decisively. "No. It's not possible."

"What's going on, James?" Lily asked. She looked angry and bewildered. "What is he on about? Are… You aren't going to be sick, are you?"

Green-faced, James sputtered, "I… it can't be true… Lovegood here can't be from the future…"

"Of course not! It's just one of Snape's jokes. Harry… He…" Lily trailed off, shaking her head in dismay as she took another look at her eyes in James' face; the nose smaller like hers; the hair just as messy as James'… Harry saw the moment when it all clicked into place in her mind. "I… James?"

Caught between the gimlet stares of his parents and watching his future enemy disappear around the corner, Harry decided on the lesser of two evils – and the greater responsibility that came with being someone's friend as opposed to that of a son wandering in time who'd met his parents who didn't know they were going to get married, let alone have children together...

Yes – chasing after a friend was easier.

Even when that person didn't believe you were their friend. He turned for the door, but James grabbed his arm. "No – you need to explain this! You don't need to run from me… not if you're my son…" his voice weakened at the shock of what he'd said. "Why can't you even look at me?" he continued softly, shaking Harry's shoulder in an effort to make Harry look him in the eye. "I know we had a bit of a rocky start, but…"

"You know nothing," Harry breathed hoarsely. "And that wasn't a rocky start… it was a bloody great avalanche! It was the truth about the sort of person you are…" At last he steeled himself to meet his father's eyes and he had a bitter satisfaction of seeing the pupils widen in shock as he spat, "I loved you. But that was when you were dead and I didn't know you. Now I do know you – and you're just like the bullies who made my life hell before I found out I was a wizard. I hate them – but not as much as I hate you!"

Lily made a muffled sound and tried to catch his wrist, but Harry sidestepped her neatly. His voice shaking, he said, "No, don't touch me. I can't bear to have you turn into the same… same… the same thing that he is."

Harry had no idea what Robert Python would say about this and he was beyond caring or thought, and James' sick expression mirrored the roiling in his own stomach that threatened to bring up his breakfast; instinct made him break into a run, sprinting away from the two speechless Gryffindors who would one day be his parents… and die, leaving a boy grieving over lies and illusions.

Running as quietly as he could, he caught Severus by surprise halfway along the next corridor. The Slytherin was striding along briskly, the tatty hem of his robes flickering out behind him and his bootheels striking the floor smartly. The set of his shoulders suggested he was bracing himself against a pain that was trying to bow him.

However much pain he felt, Harry was almost grateful for the opportunity to distract himself from the horror of what he'd run away from. Strange to have Severus Snape as a direction to run to, but then time-travel was a strange business all-round…

Well… this had worked well enough last time…

He leaped.

In a flurry of robes and curses, Severus hit the ground with Harry on his back. Before the skinnier boy could reach for his wand, Harry grabbed one arm and twisted it behind his back. In the next split-second he had him in a headlock.

"You bite me, I'll bite you back," he warned, getting a glimpse of crooked teeth.

Severus looked ready to spit poison. "Hey – here's an idea for you," he hissed. "Why don't you go back and make some happy memories with your ever-loving parents?"

"Because I need to make things right with a friend."

Black eyes squeezed tightly closed. Harry shivered at the raw pain, quickly masked by scorn.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because you're the friend."

"Liar!"

Harry relaxed just a fraction – and Severus took the chance to break the headlock.

A brief scuffle and a nasty bite to Harry's forearm later, Harry was on his back with Severus in a second headlock, and both boys were gasping for breath. He moved his head just in time as Severus snapped his head back, trying to break Harry's nose. "Stop that."

"Or what? You'll lie to me again?" Severus sneered.

"No." Really, Harry had no idea what he'd do. "I'll think of something else."

"I'm sure. Cruciatus too plebeian for you, yes?"

Harry gritted his teeth. "Yes. Now are you going to listen to me like a reasonable person, or do I have to keep you in a headlock?"

"You can let me go. I'll listen." The bared teeth suggested he'd preferentially listen to Harry's screams.

"Liar."

"Takes one to know one."

Harry shook his head. "Haven't heard that one since I was at primary school. And yes, I lied to you. I admit it and I was wrong. Happy? But look at it from my point of view… If I'd told you the truth you wouldn't have had any time for me other than the second it takes to spit on me."

"You'll never know."

"No," Harry replied softly. "I guess not."

"So why are you here? Haven't I done everything you needed me to?"

"Yes," said Harry sadly. "And more. Because you were my friend."

He was ready when Severus writhed angrily before settling again, hissing with rage as he found himself pinned down on his stomach again.

"What makes you think I was your friend? You were just someone unusual, and I was bored."

That stung. But Harry remembered just in time Severus telling him that the best way to get rid of people was to find the right insults. "You know I don't believe that. And you've been a better friend to me than I could have expected. Or deserved," he added morosely, feeling a chill pass down his back that felt like a ghost. He looked around just in time to see the Fat Friar vanish through a wall. "And you guessed the truth – and I bet you can tell me now how you would have reacted if you'd known I was James Potter's son…"

"I would have handed you over to whatever Death Eaters were passing through the area with a sign around your neck saying 'Please use me for vivisection purposes.' I would have fed you to the Giant Squid. I certainly would have let that werewolf rip your throat out…" He stopped as Harry's forearm tightened on his throat. "What? Truth too frightening for a liar?"

"No, it's not. And speaking of truth: you have to agree that I didn't need to come and find you when you went into the tunnel," Harry said. "Yes – I'm from the future. And I know that you were attacked by a werewolf when you were at school. But I also know it was my father who saved you, not me. I know the rules about time travel – don't interfere. But there was no way I could sit back and hope James had the moral fibre of something better than a weasel and go to rescue you. Don't you get it? Do you think I would have risked some sort of temporal indiscretion that could change history for someone who wasn't a friend?"

"You…?" Hope tinted Severus' voice for half a second before he snarled, "You lie. Again. How stupid do you think I am?"

Resting his forehead on the back of Severus' head, ignoring the greasy hair, Harry wondered not for the first time if having a nervous breakdown and going to St Mungos for a holiday would make his life more restful. Sometimes merely interacting with other people was harder than passing his OWLs. He was jerked back to reality when Severus tried to brain him again. "I don't think you're stupid. What do I have to do? I can't say anything else…"

There was a pause.

"You can tell me what I'm like when I get older. You said you don't know me very well… what's the truth? Are we friends?"

Harry stiffened. "I've already done too much damage…"

"Oh, don't give me that shit," Severus said, wriggling in irritation. "I already know you're going to have me Obliviated. Tell me the sodding truth, already."

"All right," Harry agreed softly. "No. We're not friends. In fact it was hate at first sight. You thought I looked like my father and I thought you looked like a sociopath. Then in my first Potions class – you're the Potions master and Head of Slytherin, by the way, and you suffer from massive favouritism concerning the Slytherins – you embarrassed the hell out of me by asking me something I couldn't possibly have known because I was raised by Muggles, you sadistic bastard. I thought you were a traitor all that first year… and things only got worse the next years. You kept trying to get me expelled. And I kept thinking you were secretly a Death Eater – well, when I found out what Death Eaters were, of course – you don't hear much about them in Surrey – and then… and then you tried to have Sirius given to the Dementors, which I completely understand about now of course, but then I thought you were just being your normal hateful git-self. Oh, and you were still absolutely awful to me whenever you got the opportunity. But Dumbledore trusted you… I didn't realise quite why until you died defending Hogwarts from Voldemort. I'm sorry. I'm – I wish I could have told you what was going to happen to you and that… that when I get back to my time I find you've already made a miraculous escape from certain doom and come back to Hogwarts and, and, and be the same poisonous, snide, nasty-tongued, sarcastic, narky, greasy bastard I've always hated and continue to terrorise the school as Hogwarts' nastiest teacher since… since Boggle, I guess." As an afterthought, Harry added, "Oh – and I'm a Gryffindor."

There was an extended silence in which there was only the faint happy sounds of students preparing to leave for Hogsmeade. Occasionally a laugh would rise bright out of the distant murmur. Like the warm yellow sunlight dappling the floor as it threaded through windows in the wall on Harry's right, it was too cheerful to be part of Harry's real world. Then:

"Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"So… not friends, then."

Harry blinked. Then started laughing. He kept laughing as Severus broke the headlock and tipped Harry off his back. Harry lay on the floor, still chortling helplessly. Severus pulled himself up, sitting cross-legged and gazing solemnly down on Harry.

"It wasn't that funny, you know."

"Well, it's been a long week."

"Longer for me," Severus sniffed. "I've had to run around after some clot-brained fool."

"Serves you right for all the crap you've dished out to me."

"You're a thankless bastard."

"Takes one to know one," Harry managed, wiping his eyes.

"Oh – touché. So… I'm the most hated teacher since Boggle?"

For a split second Harry wondered if he'd hurt Severus' feelings, then decided probably not: there was something almost smug there… "Well, only by seventy-five percent of the school. The Slytherins think you're fantastic and nearly rioted the other week my-time because you were gone and they didn't think anyone cared about them anymore."

"Really?"

"Really."

Yes… definitely more than a touch of smugness. Severus stood. "I suppose we'd better see the headmaster… too much temporal problem stuff about to happen as your parents know they're going to be – well, your parents…" He looked around. "Although it doesn't look like they've gone too far… Evans' hair is pretty distinctive and I just saw something orange bob back around the corner. I guess they want to make sure their darling treasure hasn't been eaten by the nasty Slytherin."

Well – that was all Harry needed to wipe away all traces of humour. "They aren't coming here, are they?"

Severus sent a poisonous glare down the corridor. Three of the portraits gasped and turned aside. "Not now."

"Oh. Thanks."

Severus sighed, something down the opposite end of the corridor catching his attention. His hair had been tucked back behind his ears after the fight, and he shook his head so that it fell back into the usual greasy curtain over his face. "Don't thank me too soon – here comes Dumbledore."

Harry looked up as Dumbledore walked down the corridor as if he were planning on visiting the Infirmary. Harry wouldn't have been surprised to find out that was true.

"Ah," said Dumbledore. "The good Friar informed me you two were here. I'm pleased to see you have sorted out your differences. Mr Snape… are you feeling better?"

Severus brushed off his robes with as much dignity as he could muster. "That depends on what you're going to do with Black."

"I see. Well? Not going to offer a hand to help your friend up?"

Severus gave Dumbledore a look so cold it could have been imported direct from the North Pole. "I don't have friends."

"You may be surprised," Dumbledore sighed, extending his own hand to a downcast Harry.

"Thanks." Really, Harry wondered, why had he been surprised? It wasn't as if Snape had been famous for his kind, forgiving nature. Infamous for the opposite, actually.

"Now… I believe the Infirmary is more convenient than my office…"

The boys followed Dumbledore back to the hospital, carefully not looking at each other – and even more carefully not looking at James and Lily who were hiding around the corner, debating if they should go and intervene between Snape and the weird new kid who might just be their son from the future… They jumped as Dumbledore addressed them by name.

"Mr Potter, Miss Evans… I think you may wish to accompany us. I have sent for Mr Black, and Mr Lupin is already there. There are matters which concern all of us to be discussed."

James and Lily obediently fell into step behind Harry and Severus, Severus too preoccupied to properly sneer at the Gryffindors.

They found Remus looking dreadfully worn but awake and attempting to read a Transfigurations textbook. As it was upside-down, Severus wasn't the only one with nagging thoughts. He looked up and went pale at the sight of Severus. The double-take when he saw Harry standing next to James almost made Harry smile.

Unfortunately he didn't feel like smiling at the moment. Not with James Potter standing next to him and Lily Evans in the same room; any minute now she would….

Harry couldn't imagine what she would do, but he expected it would be even worse than meeting his dad.

Maybe if he ignored her she'd go away. And then this awful sick feeling would go, too, and his hands would stop shaking and sweating. He wiped them on his robes. It didn't help.

ooOOoo