Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other character's. I just like to play with them. =)

Chapter 75

"What is this place Gab? I've never seen it before."

"It's called the Room of Requirement. If you walk past that tapestry 3 times while thinking of what you want the room to be, a door will appear - assuming no one is already using it."

Harry looked around the room. Gabriella had it mimicking a mix between the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms. Well, except for the unusually large couch in the middle of the room. That was different. "How did you find out about this place?"

"Luna told me."

"The blonde Ravenclaw in your year? I've seen her with Ginny a time or two."

Gabby nodded. "Luna's odd, but nice. I've been paired up with her on a couple of Arithmancy projects. That's how I got to know her."

"So why the big couch?"

Gabriella laughed which made Harry turn around to look at her to see what was so funny.

"You really are clueless aren't you?"

Harry nodded. "It's not the first time I've been clueless and I doubt it will be the last."

"Aren't you tired of getting detention every time we turn around for 'inappropriate behavior'?"

"Yeah, but they've normally been worth it," Harry said with a fair amount of blushing.

A couple of seconds passed by in silence.

"Oh!"

Gabriella laughed outright which made Harry turn even redder.

"He's acting different Albus. It concerns me," Severus said as he picked up his cup of tea.

"I've noticed the oddities too but he knows things that only the real Alastor Moody would know."

"You've not mentioned anything at all about me have you?"

"No, but he has been ranting about how you are an agent of evil bent on bringing the building down around our ears."

"I don't understand why he's doing that. He knew what side I was on during the war."

Albus shrugged slightly. "Who knows? Alastor has became really paranoid in the last 5 years or so. Why else perform the ritual to hide his magical signature when there aren't very many people that could have seen it to start with? I've come to expect the unexpected from him." He popped one of his many types of candies in his mouth then eyed Severus. "I have a question for you."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Minerva's been to see me again about how many detentions you've been giving Harry. Are you trying to tell him the truth again?"

Severus scowled. "No. I am not. I keep walking in on him and Ms. Nott kissing. Kissing can lead to other things! They are both too young for those 'other things'. I even caught them in the Room of Requirement the other day! Who knows where things would have led had I not interrupted them!"

"Severus, the tracking spell you had me put on Harry's necklace was not meant for you to interrupt his personal life," scolded the Headmaster.

"I'm remember what it was like being a 14 year old boy. It only takes a matter of seconds to go from one thing to the next."

"Honestly, Severus. Harry is brighter than that. If you're so concerned, why don't you sit him down and talk to him about sex."

Severus sputtered into his tea. Shouldn't he be the one conning the Headmaster into this talk ... not the other way around?

"It's something that most parents need to talk with their children about so you may as well get it over with."

"Yes, well, Harry doesn't know I'm his parent now does he? Why don't you tell him?" sneered Snape.

"Oh no. I couldn't do it. I'm afraid I'm simply not up to date on the terms that the kids today use. Why, the other day, Mr. Talbert of Ravenclaw told me that my robes were bombing and I'm afraid that I thought he meant someone had dropped an itch bomb into my robes again."

At that, Severus lips twitched in amusement. "Perhaps Poppy should tell the boy. She is a nurse after all."

"One doesn't have to be a nurse in order to tell someone what can happen when two people have sex."

"Minerva is his head of house. This should be her responsibility, not mine."

"Minerva isn't Harry's father. You could sit him down and tell him during one of his many detention's he seems to be acquiring."

"Well if they wouldn't kiss, he wouldn't be getting that many detention's from me."

"And yet you don't give her as many detentions as him."

"That's because I expect better from him."

"But not from her? Even though she's your Slytherin?"

"I've had conversations with Ms. Nott about acting inappropriately." Knowing what Albus would say next, Severus continued speaking. "And I expect Potter to act better because he is my son."

"But he doesn't know that Severus."

"Semantics."

"It is not semantics." Albus stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Why don't you just tell him the truth? If you want, I can summon him right now."

"You're crazier than I thought. I can't tell him right now. Not with my Dark Mark growing darker by the day. We still don't even know how his name got in that Goblet."

"Actually, I found out who put his name in the goblet the other night. It just doesn't make any sense though."

"Who was it?"

"Barty Crouch."

"What? Why would he put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire? I mean, the man even sentenced his own son to Azkaban. Why would he break the rules here?"

"I'm afraid I don't know Severus. I've sent some owls to Mr. Crouch but I've not gotten any back. If I do not hear from him soon, I'm going to pay him a visit myself."

Severus nodded. "If you discern that it has nothing to do with my Dark Mark growing darker, I'll tell Harry the truth ... before the third task."

Albus' eyes shined brightly. It would appear that Severus has conquered whatever fear he had previously held about telling the boy the truth.

"Professor, do you have a moment?"

"Certainly Mr. Potter. What can I do for you?" Flitwick looked up from the still smouldering chair that Dean had accidentally caused to explode in class.

"Are there any spells that would allow a person to write a letter to a ghost?"

"A ghost?" squeaked out the tiny professor.

"Yeah. I've seen Sir Nicholas with letters before and I was wondering if it was possible for me to send a letter to him that he could read?"

"I'm actually not sure. I imagine a spell for it does exist somewhere but I've never seen one personally."

"How hard is it to make a spell?"

"During my 7th year N.E.W.T. class I give it as a group project. It has the potential to be dangerous for anyone younger."

"Oh." Harry would have to find another way. He wasn't sure his idea would work even if he had the spell. "Thanks anyway, Professor."

As he headed towards the tower, he wondered if he was again thinking to complex. 'It's possible that Nick will be able to give me permission to remove the books from the library with him being a house ghost,' he thought. 'Maybe I should simply ask him.' He was going to have to start thinking small and work his way up to the bigger ideas.

He had tried all of the portraits again, working his words around the spell that prevented him from actually admitting to finding the Founder's Library. And again they had just looked at him, though he had thought the portrait of Slytherin gave him an appraising look, despite the fact that he still wouldn't respond.

Harry was currently in the Founder's Library. He couldn't sleep so he decided to explore some more.

He cast a spell that he had found that cataloged all of the books in the room onto some pieces of parchment that he brought. He figured that it would be easier to find something good to read this way.

He then picked up the pieces of paper and scanned them. The spell also put the author's of each book next to the title.

However, there appeared to be a draw back of the spell. If the book was written in another language, the title appeared in that language. Harry frowned. He did find out why a couple of the bookcases didn't have any house symbols on them though. They held the books written by other people.

After he scanned the titles, he found that a lot of books were on the same subject, just different author's, which made sense, he supposed. Even though he was a Gryffindor, he felt drawn to the Slytherin bookcases. He easily found a book of protective spells (at least he thought that's what the title said). He quickly set his wand to warm against his arm at 5am and settled in to read.

By 5am, Harry had read a few chapters of it. He would have had more read but having to look up words every 10 minutes kept distracting him.

Before he left the room for the night, he became curious. "Can I please take the book out of the room if I promise not to show it to anyone?" he asked out loud.

He tried to leave through the door but the invisible barrier was back up again.

"I already can't talk to anyone about this place without my head splitting open in pain. I promise to only read it at night or when I'm alone."

Again he tried to leave and again he was denied.

Sighing, he left the book out on the table that way he could continue reading it the next time he was down there.

As Harry made his way back through the underground tunnels, he knew that he needed to find another entrance because 2 - 3 hours at a time down there wasn't working very well. The entrance through the Chamber of Secrets couldn't have been the only one because according to legend, the other Founder's didn't even know about the Chamber.

He also made a mental note to actually hunt down Nick for permission to remove the books. He hadn't seen the ghost for a couple of days, otherwise he would have asked him before he came down here tonight.

As Harry carefully made his way back to the tower using the Marauder's map, he saw something strange on it. Ducking into an alcove to avoid Professor Sprout, he took a closer look.

Barty Crouch was walking around Moody's quarters.

Scanning the vicinity didn't reveal Moody anywhere.

'Odd. The man is too sick to judge but he's in Moody's room at 6am?' he thought. Putting it out of his mind for the moment, he finished his journey to the tower.

While he was showering - to wake up some more and to get all the dirt off of him - he had a revelation.

He could see if the room of requirement would let him access the Founder's Library that way. He wondered why it had not crossed his mind to do so before.

Harry was currently serving detention. He had been mortified when Snape had walked in on him and Gabriella in the Room of Requirement again. Not that they had been doing anything other than kissing, but still, it had been embarrassing nonetheless. It was like the man had a personal vendetta against him having a personal life. Thinking about it made him mad so he put his extra energies into scrubbing the cauldron's.

"Potter, sex is bad for you."

The cauldron Harry had been cleaning clanged to the ground. 'Had he and Snape started a conversation when he hadn't been paying attention?' "Excuse me, sir?"

"Sex is bad for you. Don't have it."

"Uh ... Er ..." He trailed off. Snape is not talking to him about sex. Did Hell suddenly freeze over when he wasn't looking? He watched as Snape went back to grading essay's. Harry stared at him for so long that Snape looked back up.

"Questions, Potter?"

"No ... I mean yeah ... I mean .. Ugh. Why did you tell me that s-sex is bad for me?"

"Because it is. It can lead to babies."

Harry sputtered.

"And kissing can lead to sex. So kissing is bad for you too," added the potion's master, seemingly as an after thought.

At this point, it was hard to tell who's face was redder; his or Snape's, but he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. "Why are you talking to me about s-s-sex?"

"Because you need to know. You'll have less detention if you quit kissing," said Snape. If he hoped that would have mollified Harry, he was wrong.

"Why do you even care?" demanded Harry.

"Oh, trust me Potter, I care a great deal. You've not ... had sex yet ... right?"

"No!" squeaked out Harry. "Of course not!" He idly wondered if he could be boiled in one of Neville's cauldron's.

Snape sighed and put down his quill. "Do you love Ms. Nott?"

"I don't know what love is sir," said Harry frowning. He missed Snape's incredulous look as he sat down in the nearest chair. "I like her a great deal, sort of like Ron and Hermione, but in a different way."

"I personally think you're too young for love, but, my own experience tells me that it can strike at any age. I also think you should wait until your 30 before you have sex ... but that's just me."

Harry looked at Snape as if he had grown a second head.

"Just, right now, you and Ms. Nott are both too young to even consider it."

"But sir, we've not went any further than kissing!"

"As I said earlier, kissing can lead to other things, so it's best to avoid that too."

"So let me get this straight. I'm supposed to turn 30, find love - without kissing, and then I can have s-sex?" Forget Neville's cauldron, he wondered if he could ask Malfoy to poison him - assuming he didn't die from embarrassment first.

"Exactly." Snape then picked up his quill to continue writing as if the conversation had never taken place.

"That's not going to happen, sir ," Harry informed him rather bravely then looked at him quite cheekily and said, "And to be honest, s-sex never even entered my mind before now." He then got up and picked up the cauldron that he had dropped in the floor earlier.

"Potter!" snarled Snape.

Harry just grinned over his shoulder and started re-scrubbing the cauldron. He then stop and frowned at the still glaring potion's master. "Sir?" he hesitantly asked.

"Yes?"

"Does everyone think that Gabriella and I are ...?"

"No, Potter. They don't."

"Then why did you think we were?"

"I didn't think you were. I just wanted to head you off before you thought of it on your own. Wait for love. It's worth it if you do, just make sure that you are at least out of school for your first time."

Harry nodded. "Uh ... why are you talking to me about this?" Snape had never really answered him when he had asked it the first time.

He saw Snape flinch a little. "It's my understanding ... that this is something that most parents tell their children."

A couple of seconds passed by in silence when Harry looked up and asked, "but why didn't Professor McGonagall tell me?"

"Do you really want Professor McGonagall to tell you? I can certainly arrange for that."

"No ... no. That's alright. I think I'll go back to cleaning the cauldrons now."

"Just go ahead and leave for the night Potter. I'll ease up on giving you the detention's if you promise to not go any further than kissing and if you promise that if the thought crosses your mind, you come to me with any questions you might have."

"Er ..." Harry looked Snape over. The man seemed really sincere about it. He doubted he'd have any questions since he didn't plan on having sex with anyone any time soon so he nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And Potter, like our other conversations, keep this between us."

"Yeah. Don't worry. I will." With that said, he fled from the classroom.

Severus watched as Potter literally ran from the potion's classroom.

He had, in a round about way, told Harry that he was his father. It's just too bad that the boy didn't realize it. Harry must have assumed that he meant 'parents tell their children' figuratively, like he was the Head of Slytherin - which would explain why he inquired as to why Minerva hadn't been telling him this.

He had no intention on talking to the boy about sex at the beginning of detention. As the evening progressed though he had heard him muttering under his breath about how it wasn't fair that he couldn't even kiss Gabriella without getting into trouble and yet he saw other people kissing all the time and they didn't get detention (which was true ... but in Severus' mind - irrelevant).

So, in a rash decision he had blurted out that sex was bad and hoped that Potter would leave it at that. He knew how to tell his Slytherin's about sex, but telling a Gryffindor was something he was unfamiliar with. It would appear that bluntness does indeed work well with them though.

He eyed the clock on the wall. Was 8pm too early for a nightcap? Because he desperately needed something to drink. Do all parents have this problem? He knew he should have conned Poppy into this talk with the boy.

Leaving his grading on his desk, he stalked to his quarter's for that drink.

A/N: Ok, I cut this chapter shorter than what I had originally anticipated but I also added "the talk". I didn't originally have Severus giving it to him ... at least not this early, but I needed a Snape / Harry interaction and *poof* one appeared! I worked with it for a while. I hope you all liked it. And if you all noticed, Snape did indeed tell Harry the truth ... in a Slytherin sort of manner. Too bad Harry didn't realize it.

I have some massive editing to do to the next chapter since my cutting this one short and adding "the talk" messed with the format of the next one but I should have it up before Monday. Because of this, I really can't give you a teaser as to what's in the next chapter.

I also want to thank everyone for the reviews. I appreciate them lots and lots! *set's out pizza* =)