*Disclaimer* This is my own creation. I get no monetaries for this story. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling or none to me.

Love You, Hate You

Chapter 5

Three days later, Severus received a letter. He was sitting at the Head table eating his breakfast and sneering at anyone who dared to look his way. He was pissed. A month and still no word from Harry.

'It's been a month and Harry hasn't sent word. I know he said he would get to me when he was ready to come back, but still. A month!' Severus thought to himself, taking a drink of his fire whiskey laced pumpkin juice; he'd needed it this last month.

The post began to fly in and students all throughout the hall started talking excitedly about what they had received from their parents, relatives, and friends. Hermione got a letter from her parents asking her how everything was going on at school and if Harry was back yet. Ron and the rest of the Weasleys (that were still in school) received some home made cakes and pies from their mum. Draco received a note from his mother asking him how he was and some sweets, but Draco paid no mind to it; he was too preoccupied with his thoughts.

As the Great Hall began to empty of the postage owls, a lone owl came soaring in. A snowy white owl that happened to belong to Harry Potter. 'Hedwig!' "Hedwig!" Everyone either shouted or thought to themselves as they watched her descent towards the Head Table, only for her to land right in front of Professor Snape.

Severus was shocked to see Hedwig, but he quickly got over his shock to reach out and stroke her. While he was stroking her breast lovingly, he took the note off of her proffered leg, which she had held out to him to take.

Hedwig then proceeded to snatch a piece of bacon from Severus' plate to eat. She snatched a second one once she had finished with the first and perched upon the back of Severus' chair. Meanwhile, Severus was no longer paying attention to his surroundings; let alone what Hedwig was doing. He was busy reading the note that Hedwig had brought him.

It read:

Hey Sev,

I hope everything has been going well since I left. I'm sorry for leaving, but I just needed a break and to get away from everyone for awhile. By the way, did you ever figure out who it was that I left with? If not, here's another clue: He is the first known Parseltongue. Does this help? Probably not because you believe it to be a hoax, but it's the truth. Hope it does. Do you get it now?

Anyways, I will be back tonight around dinner time. The person that I left with will also be coming with me, so don't be alarmed if you see someone with me. Again, I hope everything and everyone is fine. Plus, you haven't killed any of the 'dunderheads' you so fondly call them, have you? Hope not. Well, I will see you tonight.

Love you,

Harry

P.S. Only you can read this, so will you let everyone know that I am alright and not to worry? Thanks. See you tonight.

Severus read the note thrice; trying to make sure he understood what Harry had just told him. He was excited and relieved that Harry was going to be coming back that night. He even gave a small chuckle at the 'dunderheads' comment.

But he was also confused and worried about who Harry said the stranger with him was. For as far as Severus knew, the first known Parseltongue that he was aware of was Slytherin. Only, Severus knew that the stranger with Harry couldn't be him; he had been dead for thousands of years, hadn't he?

Severus wasn't so sure anymore though because he knew Harry and trusted his word. However, before his thoughts could go any farther, a clearing of someone's throat had him coming back to reality.

"Is everything alright, Severus?" Dumbledore inquired, looking slightly worried at Severus' spaced out look.

Severus lightly shook himself out of his thoughts to look at Albus before he answered, "Hmmmm…Oh, yes, Albus. Everything's fine, I was just thinking."

"Ah. If I may ask, is that from young Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked again, motioning towards the note still clutched in Severus' hand.

"Yes, it is from Mr. Potter." Severus drawled, looking away from the note to look back to his left at Dumbledore.

"Is Harry alright, Severus?" McGonagall asked worriedly, "Please, Severus. You know that I see him as my grandson and I've been extremely worried about him."

Severus' eyes softened slightly before going blank again, "I know you do, Minerva. And yes, Harry is fine. He says he is sorry for leaving so unexpectedly, but he just needed a reprieve from both the school and its student's."

Everyone seemed to relax and breathe a sigh of relief at this. They had been listening to the conversation ever since Dumbledore had asked Severus if he was alright.

"Did Harry say when he was coming back?" Remus Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor and Harry's surrogate godfather asked anxiously from the other side of Severus.

Severus looked like he didn't want to answer him, but Remus spoke again, "Please Severus. Harry's my only family left, he's my cub. We're all worried about him, please Severus."

"Well, I suppose. Harry did say to tell everyone." Severus sighed, "But, yes Harry is coming back."

Silence rang throughout the Great Hall for a few minutes waiting for Severus to finish telling them when Harry was coming back. At least that was until a student got impatient at waiting and shouted, "When?"

Severus rolled his eyes at their impatience, but answered nevertheless, "Harry said that he would be back tonight, just in time for dinner."

Before anyone could say anything though, Severus held up his hand for silence then proceeded to continue to talk, "And no, I don't know what time exactly, just around dinnertime. Nor do I know how he will be getting here."

Everyone was quiet, silently digesting all the information that they had just heard. Suddenly, someone called out questionably in a dreamy voice, "Will the High King be coming with Harry?"

Severus and everyone else looked over towards the Ravenclaw table confused, where the voice had come from, to see Luna Lovegood looking off into space with a dreamy look upon her face.

"What was that you said, Ms. Lovegood?" Dumbledore asked Luna kindly, while looking slightly confused himself.

"Is the Snake King coming with our Prince?" Luna replied in her sing-song like voice, which was different from what she had said before, but they all got the feeling that she was talking about the same people.

"Snake King? Our Prince?" Were the whispers that broke out among the confused students after Luna had spoken again.

Everyone was perplexed; the staff was trying to figure out what she had meant, while the students were wondering why Luna was so loony. No one had any idea as to who it was she was talking about.

After a few moments of trying to figure her out, they finally put it out of their minds as something not important. Just then, the bell rang signaling that breakfast was over and that they needed to get to class.

It didn't leave everyone's mind though. Over at the Slytherin table, under their cold facades, most were excited. Heck, some were even down right happy that Harry Potter was coming back. If anyone else knew that they were happy for Harry's return, they would automatically assume it was for some evil purpose.

What no one seemed to realize, however, was that the Slytherins weren't really that bad. They were just very secretive and didn't associate with other people outside of their own house for fear of being hurt by the prejudices of the world.

Harry Potter was their Savior just as much as the rest of the world's Savior. The Slytherins didn't want to be followers and treated like dogs by the Dark Lord Voldemort. They didn't want to be like their parents. They wanted freedom from bother the Dark Lord and their parents.

Both wanted them to do things that they didn't believe in or even want to do. They just wanted to be free of their control. And Harry was their only chance at gaining their freedom.

The Slytherins also liked Harry for another reason other than him being able to free them from the clutches of the Dark Lord and their parents. Harry has made Draco Malfoy, their Prince, happy; the most that they had ever seen Draco happy. And because of this, they liked Harry all the more.

Blaise Zambini, Draco's best friend, was the first to find out about Harry and Draco's relationship. He had been walking around the dungeons when he had come across something that he wouldn't have believed in a hundred years if he hadn't of seen it with his own eyes. Hidden in an alcove had been Harry and Draco kissing.

He had been duably shocked, I mean they were supposed to be the most bitter of enemies at the school and yet there they were kissing as if they meaned to eat the others mouth. Aside from the shock, he had realized that Draco was truly happy for the first time and he had left before they had realized he had seen them.

He had kept it to himself for a few weeks afterwards, but when the rest of Slytherin house began to question why Draco was so happy all the time lately, Blaise decided to tell them. He had held a meeting with the rest of Slytherin house when he knew Draco and Harry had detention together for them fighting (again) to tell them why Draco was so happy.

They were all shocked themselves about the relationship, but they had too realized that Draco was happy and they were happy that he had found someone. Once the shock had subsided, the girls were stuck between being disappointed that the two most sexiest men in the school were together and thinking about how cute they were together. The boys, however, were joking around about how the school and the rest of wizarding world would react to finding out about them being together.

Now, though, they had been noticing that Draco had been down and Pansy had been awfully quiet lately, too. Some of the younger Slytherins had tried to ask Pansy about it, but all they got was, "You will have to talk to Draco about it."

The only problem with that is, is that nobody dared to ask Draco. This was due to everyone knowing better than to try to talk to him about something. He sometimes had a temper that could rival even Harry's and that's saying something.

So, all they could do was wait for Harry to come back and see what happens. Hopefully he can figure out what was wrong with Draco and fix it.

At Gryffindor table, Hermione was sitting with a confused, yet thoughtful look upon her face. She was pondering what Luna had said, but mostly about all that had split up the Golden Trio.

After the mess-up at the Ministry and Sirius dying, Ron had become bitter towards Harry. He had called Harry many names, but the worst of them was when he had said that it was Harry's fault that Sirius had died. That was the most hurtful thing that he had said to Harry ever and that was what had ultimately destroyed their friendship.

Ron has cooled down since then, but he still blamed Harry for being famous. Which was ridiculous since Harry hated being famous and all the attention that he got, but Ron never listened.

The rest of the Weasley's, however, still loved Harry like he was family. It was only Ron that held a grudge against Harry. Hermione knew it was wrong of Ron to blame everything on Harry, but…what could she do? She had tried to keep a friendship with both of them going, but things didn't work out. Ron had given her an ultimatum where she had to choose him or Harry. When she had said that she wouldn't choose between either, Ron had accused her of choosing Harry over him.

Ron wouldn't listen to reason though and kept calling Harry an 'attention seeking prat,' which was absolutely ridiculous and untrue. Harry had always hated his fame and still does for that matter, especially all the attention that people give him.

Because Ron won't listen and get over himself, Hermione only talks to Harry now. They weren't the best of friends like they used to be, but at least they were still friends. 'I don't think that we will ever be like we used to be, but that's fine. At least we are still friends.' Hermione thought to herself.

She was relieved and very happy that Harry was coming back though. When he had left so suddenly with only those few words to reassure her and had been gone for a month; she was glad that he was finally coming back.

*Well, I hope you all like it. I tried to see if there were any changes needed and I think I only did a few. I, again, tried to make it long like previous chapters and I think I almost succeeded. And yes, I gave you lots of hints, if not actually telling you, of who the stranger is.

Also, I don't really have anything against Ron, but I mean come on, he is always letting jealousy get in the way. And I think that in some other kind of scenario, Ron would have ended up betraying Harry, but since it did not then we don't have to really worry about it. Again, nothing really against him, but I need a betrayer in my fic and he is it.

Please review and thanks for the other reviews.

Nosyrosie!