AN: Wasn't sure what to do with this chapter. I needed to set up for Harry's sixth year. From here on, there will be large leaps in time at different points, but I hope it will still work. I'm guessing at four or five more chapters, though it may be more or less. I already have plans for after that though. I'm going to write either a songfic based on this story about Remus' bond with Mila, a collection of songfics showing the story of Remus and Tonks falling in love and having a family (which will be canon based except for Remus and Tonks surviving) or a story showing moments from the Marauders' days at Hogwarts. So if any of you have a prefference let me know. I plan on doing them all eventually, but I'll do whichever my readers want more first.

Thanks as always to my readers and to Paddyandmoony. If it wasn't for her none of my stories would ever be up, and she's given me alot of inspiration for ideas.

Chapter 61

OK, so maybe Harry would never quite be just a normal teenager. Now he was the savior, the "Chosen ONe" (Harry had to laugh at that new title), and of course, the "Boy Who Lived." Harry tried to keep a low profile, but it seemed like there was always either a girl who wanted him to take them out on the next Hogsmead weekend, or a Slytherin who wanted to get in a good hex on him. Malfoy wasn't the only one who's father was in Azkaban now because of Harry, although he was certainly the worst about it. At one point he even threatened "You're dead Potter!"

Harry was used to Draco being a pain though, and only said "Funny, you'd think I'd have stopped moving. And if your dad's boss couldn't kill me, I'm not going to be afraid of you."

Harry didn't let himself become overconfident though, and kept his guard up. Hermione also warned him to be careful about anything girls offered him, because she'd heard some of them planning to slip him a love potion.

Potions were going to be on Harry's mind alot that year. Slughorn wasn't as strict about OWL marks, so Harry qualified to take Potions after all. He was glad of that because although he no longer wanted to be an Auror, he was hoping to be accepted to the Auror academy for a few years. there had been too many Defense teachers at Hogwarts who didn't know what they were doing, and Harry wanted to be sure he'd be able to teach his students well if he ever got the job.

He guessed he'd better know about a wide range of dark spells, creatures, and objects, and Snape certainly seemed to agree. In class he showed the students pictures of people who had provoked inferi, suffered the Crutiatus, and had their souls sucked out by dementors.

"The Dark Arts," he told them, "are many, varied, ever changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster, which, each time a head is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, and indestructable."

Harry wanted to point out that they weren't indestructable. Voldemort had been destroyed, hadn't he? Harry stopped himself though. Voldemort being killed didn't mean there were no more dark wizards or dark magic.

"Your defenses must therefor b as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo."

Snape finished with a warning about overconfidence that Harry felt sure was meant for him, then had the students pair off to try to jinx thier opponent and try defending themselves. The catch was they had to do it non- verbally. That took more concentration than verbal spells and it was hard to get any actual magic to happen that way. Ron was finding it almost impossible to send a jinx at Harry without saying the incantation. Harry was sure he saw Ron's mouth move just slightlyand could see the effort Ron was making not to talk. Finally Snape came over.

"Pathetic, Weasley." Then he aimed his own wand at Harry, sending a non- verbal jinx at him.

"Protego!"

Harry had reacted instinctively, realizing too late that he had said the incantation for the shielding charm aloud.

"Do you remember me telling you that we are practicing non- verbal spells?" Snape demanded.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"Yes sir," Snape stressed.

Harry was tempted to make a wisecrack, but faught back the urge.

"Yes sir," he said. "You're right. After all you've done, you do deserve that." Snape looked surprised that Harry had said that. "Saying the spell aloud was a reflex. After all, I was about to be jinxed." Although he was making an effort with Snape, he wasn't going to let that slide.

Snape glared at him before saying "Despite what you may believe after the end of last year, you are not invincible, Potter. It always pays to have every advantage, even if you are the 'Chosen One,'" he sneered. "Non- verbal spells give you the advantage of not alerting your opponent to your every move, so I suggest you overcome that reflex. And if you remember, you were supposed to be blocking jinxes, so what I did should not have been unexpected. Also I should think you would have known by now I wasn't going to send anything lethal at you."

Harry nodded. He tried to see it as only another lecture from a teacher and not a put down. The rest of the class went better than he'd expected, although only Hermione was having any real success. It did help Harry's outlook on Snape that the new Defense professor wasn't going as easy on the Slytherins as he once had. Harry supposed now that Snape was no longer a spy he didn't have to. Still, Snape's general personality hadn't improved as far as Harry was concerned.

It was hard to understand. Snape had saved Harry's life not once but several times, and his dad's too. Yet he still acted as if he hated them. Part of it, Harry supposed, was just Snape being Snape. He used intimidation to teach and most likely always would. But why did he single him out to hate? Was it because he looked so much like James? Was it because he still had never forgiven Sirius and Remus for the Shrieking Shack incident? Was it because there were too many hard feelings left over from the past? Was he just unwilling to let anyone get close? Or was it because Harry was a living reminder that he had lost Lily to his arch rival? Harry decided to try to speak to him after class.

"Professor? I was wondering if you'd given any thought to what you saw in my mind the night Voldemort fell?"

"Are you refering to the delusion you had as a result of the killing curse hitting you?" Snape asked, acting disinterested.

"It wasn't a delusion," Harry said patiently. "And I think you know it. How else could I have known about the things they told me? I know I saw my mother and my first dad, and you know my mother wanted me to- well, to help you move on and forgive yourself for your mistakes, whatever they were."

"Are you such a do gooder that you insist on helping even those who don't want or need your help?" Snape's voice had risen slightly and his glare hardened. "Your need to save others nearly got you killed last year. Instead of giving your already inflated ego a boost that should have given you something to think about. Little as you've been able to learn you should at least learn when you aren't needed."

"I don't have an inflated ego," Harry said, feeling a bit defiant. "I'm not James Potter. He was my first dad and I'm not about to start looking down on the man who gave his life trying to protect my mother and I, but I know he wasn't perfect. Even his two best friends know that. And if you have such contempt for me why did you save me and my dad when you could have just let us be killed?"

"I have already told you I will not be saving you if you ever need it again," Snape told him harshly.

"I don't believe that," Harry answered. "You didn't just save me all those times because you owed my first dad. You did it for her, for my mother. She's only ever asked one thing of me, and I'm going to do that much for her."

Snape looked ready to send a jinx at Harry again, but instead said "Then you can consider your mission accomplished because no matter what you may think I'm not in any need."

Slytherins. Harry didn't think he'd ever get used to their attitudes. At least there weren't as many Slytherins to contend with in Potions as there used to be, Harry noticed when he entered the dungeons. Only four had made it to the NEWT level. Unfortunately, Malfoy was among them.

Since Harry hadn't expected to take Potions that year, he hadn't bought a sixth year Potions book or any of the supplies he'd need. Slughorn was only too eager to loan Harry what he needed. When Harry opened his potions book, much to his annoyance, he found that the previous owner had written in alternative instructions. It was hard enough trying to brew such a complicated potion without trying to read the origional text underneath the writing. And every student in the dungeon, Harry included, was doing their best to win the bottele of Felix Felicious, "liquid luck," that Slughorn was offering for the best potion brewed that day. The Sopophorus bean they were supposed to be cutting was proving to be tough as well. The book's former owner had written in the crushing the bean with the side of a dagger worked better. Why not try it?

It turned out whoever owned this book last knew about potions. The bean released the juice more than easily, and once Harry added the juice, his potion turned the exact color described by the book. Harry decided it would be worth a try to use the alternative instructions for the rest of the lesson, and by the time class was over Harry was wishing all his books had such helpful hints. With their help Harry won the luck potion, and later Harry looked through the book in his dorm. Inside the cover he had found written "this book is the property of the Half Blood Prince."

Though Potions was now easy for Harry thanks to the Prince, classes in general were hardly enjoyable. Every day it seemed like they were fifth years studying for their OWLS again, and what free time was left to Harry was usually taken up by either quiddich ot the DA. Although Snape was obviously a better teacher than Umbridge, there were still students who were falling behind, and so they all agreed to meet for some practice time together. Surprisingly, Neville barely needed the DA at all. He'd gotten over being intimidated by Snape. That and the fact that his grandmother had bought him a wand of his own that year made a huge difference. Neville actually succeeded in jinxing Harry almost as often as Harry jinxed him whenever they paired up, and Harry was quick to point this out to help Neville's confidence.

Harry could only wish quiddich were going so well. Never had there been such a turnout of people trying to join the Gryffindor team. Harry decided the best way to narrow down the competition was to have them fly in groups around the pitch. The group of first years who'd obviously never flown before was easy to eliminate, and so were the girls who just colapsed into giggles and left the pitch still laughing. One group piled up, another forgot their brooms. Probably most annoying of all, one group was all Hufflepuffs. In the end though, Harry did put together a decent team, including ron as keeper and Ginny as Chaser. Ginny was brilliant, although when it came to Quiddich Ron had almost as many confidence issues as Neville had on a broom. Harry knew Ron was a good flyer, so this frustrated him. Still, Ron had been the best of the keepers who tried out.

All in all, Harry felt the whole "Chosen One" thing was getting way out of hand. All those people had shown up for tryouts just because of him. He was sick of being famous, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"Maybe it will die down? Harry asked hopefully.

"Harry, Dumbledore defeated Grindewald over fifty years ago and he's still famouse for it. And you were already famous before you defeated Voldemort," Hermione reminded him.

Harry groaned. At least so far he'd been able to avoid being sucked into the "Slug Club." He wasn't going to be one more person Slughorn used to get free quiddich tickets or crystalized pineapple. Slughorn wasn't a bad man, Harry knew, but Harry didn't like his favoritism. Ron, Hermione, and the others had been at the final battle too, after all. He did have to admit he liked hearing he got his Potions talent from his mother though, even if he knew he didn't deserve it. It just felt good to know what he was doing in Potions for a change and to hear for once how much like his mother he was.

By mid October, Harry still hadn't made much progress in his mission to befriend Snape and help him move past the mistakes of his past. Talking about how talented his mother had been at Potions seemed a likely way to get on the topic, but Harry also had a backup plan.

"Professor?" Harry asked staying behind after class one day. "I don't know if you havbe any photos of my mother or not, but I thought you might like to have these." He held out some photos of Lily he'd made copies of. There were ones of her sitting by the lake at Hogwarts, waving at the camera, the wind blowing through her red hair. Of her making birds fly out of her wand, her wearing her head girl badge, and many other moments at Hogwarts. Snape handled them as if the slightest touch would steal them away from him, and seemed to be looking back in time, to a happier time for him.

Yes, Voldemort was dead now and the rest of the world was rejoicing, but for Snape, the mission to make up for what he'd done could go no further. There was nothing left to do for him except remember what his mistakes had cost him. But seeing these moments captured forever on film, they helped him remember that there had been happy times, lights in the darkness, and that someone had cared about him and, if what Harry had let him use Legilimens to see was true, that someone still cared. That was so like Lily. She had been the kindest person Snape had ever known.

"One moment Potter," he called as Harry turned to go. "Come back here."

Harry did as asked, although not sure at all if this was going to end well or badly. Then snape opened the desk drawer and pulled something out.

"I did have one photo of her. You might like to see it."

It was a black and white photograph showing Lily as a little girl. It must have been taken shortly before she and Snape left for Hogwarts. Judging by the fact that it showed her posed in what must have been her best clothes it must have been an old school photo she'd given to Snape.

"Professor Slughorn says she was brilliant at Potions," Harry said

"She was a marvel at them," Snape answered. Then he seemed to remember who he was talking to. "Pity you didn't inherit her gift."

Harry decided not to mention how much better he was doing at Potions were doing better this year.

"Right. Well, enjoy the photos Professor." Harry left Snape looking at them, hoping this was at least a start.