Harry tried his best to ignore the incessant taunts of the other students. He took himself off to bed early on Friday evening, preferring to read in peace in the dormitory than to sit and listen to the complex analysis of the whole Bogart situation, complete with ridiculous renactments, that was being played out over and over again downstairs in the common room. Then on Saturday, with only Ron and Hermione for company, he spent the entire morning outside in the grounds despite the unseasonably bad weather. He was very grateful for his friends, Hermione was as uncomfortable with the disrespect the other students were showing his father as he was but he knew Ron was probably dying to join in with the others so the fact he managed to restrain himself really proved just how great a friend he was. By lunchtime however the rain was absolutely torrential and they were forced to stay inside for the remainder of the afternoon. It didn't matter where he went, the great hall, the common room, classrooms, corridors, even the library, everywhere was full of students sniggering away to themselves as they made their silly little jokes, thinking they were the first person in the school to come up with such wise cracks when really he didn't think he had heard a single original remark from any of them, least of all one that was actually funny.

At dinner he looked guiltily across at the Ravenclaw table, he hoped the twins were not suffering in the way he was. They looked happy enough though thankfully and when he managed to catch his sisters eye she waved cheerily across at him. Not really being that well known yet was probably protecting them somewhat but this was an incredibly important time for them and it would be horrible if it impacted their ability to make new friends.

Turning his attentions to the staff table he glared up at Lupin. He had taken to sitting beside his father, most probably just to annoy him, but today he seemed to have swapped seats with Professor Vector and was now sitting on the other side of the room. Harry glanced back towards his father for a moment, earning himself a brief, almost imperceptible, nod as he wondered whether or not they were actively avoiding one another now or if it was a mere coincidence that Lupin had chosen a different seat today.

They had probably just had words, that was the adult way to resolve things like this after all but he found comfort in day dreaming about his father absolutely trouncing the DADA professor in a duel. That would have wiped the smug look of his face, Harry thought, glowering up at him again before going back to miserably pushing his food around his plate, unable to stomach the thought of actually eating.

Once his friends were done he trudged back up to the tower with them, feeling somewhat proud of himself that he had managed to even get through the meal without hitting someone!

After about an hour though he was absolutely done. "I can't suffer this any longer Ron" he whispered, "I'm going to go and see if I can hang out in Fathers Quarter's for a bit, could you cover for me?"

Ron nodded, and grabbing Hermione, walked with him down to the dungeons before leaving him to knock sheepishly on the door to his fathers office as they slipped back up to the common room without him.

"Come in" his father responded sharply wondering who dared disturb his peace.
When he saw it was Harry he rose quickly from his seat, "Is everything okay?" He asked concerned as his eyes scanned the forlorn boy for possible signs of injury.
Harry nodded "yeah I'm fine. I was er hoping I could maybe hang out here for a bit though, because I'm going to end up hexing someone into next week if I stay in the common room any longer."

Severus eyed him carefully " Is this about the bogart? He asked, with a hint of amusement.
Harry looked at him in disgust before setting off on a rant about how much he hated Lupin and his classmates and the whole bloody student body.

"I did try to warn you about Lupin" his father chuckled, cutting him off before he got himself any more riled up.

"I know!" Harry groaned, "So can I stay? You don't have to talk to me or anything, I brought a book so you can continue with whatever it is you were doing, just please don't make me go back to the tower." He spluttered pleadingly, looking up at his father with his best puppy dog eyes.

Severus regarded him for a moment longer before nodding his consent and pointing him in the direction of his private quarters as he moved to put his work away for the evening.

Harry grinned, quickly racing through and flopping down onto the sofa, making himself comfortable.

"Shoes Harry!" His father admonished with a hint of exasperation when he caught up with him.

Harry sat up a little, kicking off the offending footwear and muttering an apology as the potions master took his seat across from him. "It pleases me no end that you had the good sense to actually extricate yourself for an undesirable situation for once. You are maturing Harry" he commended, causing his son to blush.

"10 points to Gryffindor for showing unprecedented responsibility" The boy suggested cheekily.

Severus rolled his eyes, "10 points to Gryffindor for showing unprecedented responsibility" he parroted, winking at him conspiratorially.

Harry looked at him astonished before breaking into a grin feeling all of the tension of the last two days disappear in an instant.

"You didn't eat much today" his father remarked.

"You notice that kind or thing?"

Severus nodded.

"I wasn't hungry." He said with a shrug.

Severus rolled his eyes again. He hated shrugging, understanding though that his son had had a bad day he let it go for once. "Could I interest you in something now?" He asked, "I can call for one of the elves?"
Harry shook his head, but following another searching look, Severus summoned an elf anyways, requesting a bowl of soup which he later pushed insistently in front of his son as they talked about how each of them were settling back into the routines of school and speculating on how they thought the twins were getting on.

They could have talked for hours. While Harry and his father had no doubt become much closer over the summer, he had somewhat missed his visits to him at the school. He didn't know what it was, maybe it was because it was just the two of them here but he seemed easier to talk to at school than he did at home at the manor.

Unfortunately though being house master came with many responsibilities, even or perhaps especially on a Saturday night and soon it came time for his father to make his rounds forcing him to leave Harry to take out the book he had brought and entertain himself for a while.

" Anything interesting happening out there?" He asked when he returned?

Severus shook his head " Nothing I'd tell you about anyways, Gryffindor" he teased before curiously pushing up the front of the book the boy was reading so that he could read the title - The Magic Gene.

"Homework or personal interest?" he asked.

"Bit of both, Professor Burbage mentioned it in passing and I was curious to learn more. Its really fascinating." He told him enthusiastically before asking if he had read it.

Severus nodded, carefully maintaining a neutral expression as he worked hard to control his breathing through the sudden stabbing feeling he felt in his chest. He too had read that book during his schooldays but it was one of many that he and his housemates had used to try and justify their beliefs in magical supremacy. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the book itself. It didn't actually aim to promote that way of thinking or anything so it wasn't that he had any concerns about Harry reading it or anything, that was regrettably just the lens that he had been viewing the world through at the time and the memory of that and how disgustingly fallacious his outlook had been back then physically pained him.

Still, not wanting to dampen his sons enthusiasm he forced himself to set aside his prior associations with the book and engaged him in a stolid discussion of the topic.

He was glad to be able to confirm that the boy didn't seem to share any of his own youthful ideologies. In fact most of his interest in the subject seemed to stem from a curiosity about hereditary and family history more than anything else. Harry told him about his classes in primary school and the family tree he had pretty much invented and listened eagerly as his father told him more about his grandparents and great grandparents in response.

Harry was delighted to learn more about his family and even more delighted when his father started pointing where various traits of his had come from starting with him having his mothers eyes.

As always though Harry couldn't just be content with what his father was offering him, he had to push for more. He knew family history wasn't his fathers favourite topic and he knew there were certain things he didn't like to talk about but once again curiosity got the better of him, prompting him to start asking questions he should have known he wouldn't get an answer to. All of a sudden his father seemed to realise what time it was and quickly rushed off to make another round before curfew, advising Harry that he would accompany him back to Gryffindor Tower on his return.

After coming across no less than six groups of students misbehaving though, his round took much longer than expected through and by the time he actually returned to his quarters Harry had fallen asleep.

He contemplated waking him, it would do nothing to restore the boys relationship with his housemates if he stayed here for the night, but he looked so peaceful that he decided against it. Instead, he carefully removed his sons glasses and placed them down on the coffee table beside him along with his book before going into his own room and taking one of the blankets off the bed to cover him up with.

"Goodnight Harry." He whispered softly, kissing him on the forehead before tenderly tucking him in.

He then did a quick tidy up, sent Minera a message informing her of Harry's whereabouts and then sat down with his own book for a while. As he attempted to read however, he found his gaze continually drawn to the sleeping boy. Abandoning his book, he sat studying him for a while, calmness sweeping over him with the rhythmic rise and fall of his sons chest. Silently he renewed his pledge to Lily to protect the boy at all costs then reluctantly left to do a final check of the Slytherins before he too surrendered himself to sleep.