Summary:

A mentor/parental figure story that takes place two weeks after The Battle of Hogwarts. Severus Snape survived, but is a wanted man by the Death Eaters and the Ministry. The remnants of Voldy's army seek revenge on the traitor and their master's vanquisher, so Harry and Snape must go into hiding. But with seven years of mutual hate, and the heavy truth of Snape's past with Lily Evans Potter, living under the same room can prove to be quite a challenge. Will the two reconcile, or will they tear each other's throats apart? What do the Death Eaters have planned, and what will Snape and Harry do about it?

Author's notes:

I first started writing this fanfiction like half a year ago, and, honestly, I had half a mind to simply trash the whole story. But, I didn't, as you can see. Maybe it's just my poor searching skills, but I couldn't find many post-battle severitus stories (at least long ones) so I decided to write one myself! I already have the first 29 chapters written, and will post a new one every couple of days.

This is my first ever fanfiction, as well as my first ever writing piece. The first few chapters might be a bit bad, but I promise my writing skills are better in the other ones. Grammar and punctuation-wise, I try my best to check everything before I post, but I can't promise English perfection (even though it's my native language).

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure it's clear as day that I don't own HP. That's the amazing J.K. Rowling. Just doing this for fun and borrowing her characters.

Enjoy!

CH.1 - A ROUGH ENCOUNTER

The golden sun rays receded slowly from the tall windows of the library, extinguishing the last of the illuminated dust particles in their wake. The vast room was now dimly lit, with the only light source being a single torch above one of the working desks.

The occupant of said desk was sitting in a wooden chair, knees drawn up, a thick book propped up against them. The boy tried to focus on the words in front of him, but his thoughts kept straying, and every few minutes, Harry Potter found himself staring aimlessly out the window.

It had been two full weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts, and things were starting to slowly return to normal. Well, as normal as could be expected.

After all, when was the last time something had been normal for The Chosen One?

The raven-haired boy lightly snorted to himself at the mere thought. Since his coming to Hogwarts seven years ago, it seemed as if nothing had ever been normal since.

Ranging from trolls to a snake-faced sadist, every year had brought something new, and it always had everything to do with the 'Chosen One.'

Merlin, how Harry hated that moniker; it caused him to scrunch his nose every time he heard or thought of it.

But now, there could finally be peace, or at least to a certain extent. True, Voldemort was gone for good, but what of the repercussions? So, so many casualties, and each one of them made the light side's victory feel more like a loss. They had won, but at what cost?

It was incredulous, Harry thought, that no one seemed to blame him for the deaths of the countless witches, wizards, and creatures, but rather saw him as a miraculous savior of the bloody Wizarding World.

Harry sighed and shut his book with a thud, tossing it onto the desk littered with the other books and scrolls of parchment. He rubbed his eyes tiredly with his thumb and forefinger, causing his round glasses to slide up. Slowly stretching and leaning back in his chair, he craned his neck to look at the darkening book-filled room.

For the past two weeks, Harry had spent the majority of his time cooped up in the Hogwarts library, attempting to catch up on the seventh-year material he had missed. Though, he more often than not found it hard to concentrate on his work, as the same nagging thoughts and musings refused to recede from the surface of his mind.

He would often think about the Weasleys, who were currently at the Burrow, or about Hermione, who was with her parents. The boy smiled as he remembered the countless letters he had received from the Weasley clan, urging Harry to stay at the Burrow with them.

But he just couldn't bring himself to accept the invites. After what had happened to Fred, it just felt... wrong. Hogwarts, on the other hand, provided him with solitude and peace.

There weren't many people left in the old castle, as most of the professors had gone home to their families for the remainder of the summer (once the school had been restored back to its original glory).

Only McGonagall - the newly acquainted headmistress, Hagrid, Madam Pince, a few other professors, and Madame Pomfrey remained.

Oh...And Severus Snape.

Harry cupped his face with one hand, propping his elbow on the cluttered desk, and stared out the window at the last rays of light sinking behind the landscape. How ironic, he mused, that the Head of Slytherin had almost died of a snake bite.

But irony aside, Harry reflected back on these past two weeks, recalling how Snape had been discovered barely alive in the Shrieking Shack when Harry, his friends, and McGonagall had gone to retrieve his body.

There, they had discovered not only that the ex-Death Eater was still breathing, but a strikingly familiar-looking red-gold feather lying next to him.

The rush back up to the castle had been difficult with an unconscious and hovering Snape in tow. However, once Madame Pomfrey had stabilised him in the infirmary, she revealed how Snape had survived Nagini's snake bite.

It was courtesy of Fawkes, of course.

A few days later, Snape had awakened, though drained of energy and deprived of speech due to his damaged vocal cords. But once Snape had regained enough energy for a conversation, Harry was the first person to have it with him.

He had filled the professor in on everything that had happened, from the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows to Voldemort's defeat.

Snape's reaction had been priceless as the man had sagged in his hospital bed out of pure shock and relief, his stoic demeanour forgotten.

Then, the hardest part came.

Despite their history of mutual hatred for one another over the last seven years, Harry had thanked the man for his contributions to the light side. He had also thanked Snape for the memories he had given him of not only the crucial information, but of Lily Potter as well.

Harry cringed at the remembrance of how awkward that conversation had been. Though, how it had ended with an argument was still a mystery to him.

Feeling a wave of exhaustion sweeping over him, Harry rested his head on the smooth wooden surface, using his hands as a pillow. He hadn't seen Snape ever since that day in the infirmary, though he knew for a fact that the man was still recovering.

He just didn't know what would happen if they encountered each other again. Harry wasn't sure if the Potions Master's hate for him had changed, but he found he would rather not know. He didn't want to bicker with the man, not after finding out the whole truth.

It was almost cruel, how people like Remus, Tonks, and Fred, who had been practically like family to Harry, had died, yet the one person who had hated Harry since his first day at Hogwarts had somehow survived.

Snape was right; life is unfair, was Harry's last thought before his eyelids drooped, and he succumbed to sleep.

Harry groaned softly as the rays of morning sunlight streamed down on his face, causing his eyes to smart. He tried shifting his head away from the light, but it was futile, as there were more windows on either side of the one in front of him.

Groggily, Harry lifted his head and rubbed his eyes, feeling his glasses lopsided on his face. He grimaced at his sore back. This wasn't the first time he had fallen asleep in the library, but that didn't negate the fact that it was extremely uncomfortable.

Harry slowly stood and stretched before taking in last night's mess on the desk, frowning at the sight. Reaching into his back jeans pocket, he pulled out his wand and cast a Tempus. Half past nine, it read. He had missed breakfast, but found that he couldn't care less.

Slowly but surely, the boy had been about to tidy up, but stilled at a sudden noise. His grip on his wand tightened, and he instantly became more alert. There were still a number of Death Eaters that had escaped after the battle, so there really was no such thing as being over-cautious.

The young wizard flattened himself against the nearest bookcase as silently as he could, wand held at the ready. He listened intently, and then he heard the noise again.

Footfalls, he deduced, but whose? After having been on the run for nine months from pretty much the entire Wizarding World, Harry wasn't taking any chances.

Deciding to opt for a better view, Harry slowly moved along the bookcase, keeping as silent as possible. He stopped dead, though, and held his breath when something small and hard crunched under his foot. A loose pebble from the stone floor — brilliant.

Harry's heart rate quickened when he could no longer hear any sounds coming from the other presence. He knew the intruder knew, and vice versa.

This was it, Harry contemplated, going with the offensive first. His signature spell would do.

At the sound of a rustle of fabric, Harry lept from behind his bookcase and aimed wildly at the potential intruder.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

The spell collided with the shield and rebounded on Harry, resulting in his wand flying out of his grip.

"Potter!"

Harry stared at his opponent with dread and surprise, feeling his heartbeat slow.

The wizard in front of him was none other than Severus Snape, adorned in his usual black suit and robes, although his hair was only slightly less greasy. He had dark circles under his eyes, but apart from that, he looked better than the last time Harry had seen him.

A bit of white bandage could be seen peeking out of his collar, but the man had followed Harry's line of sight and quickly adjusted it.

"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, feeling a bit embarrassed. He started lowering his wand, when Snape snapped at him.

"Idiot. What evidence do you have of me not being a Polyjuiced enemy?" he spat.

Harry bristled. "I'm not an idiot. And I know for a fact you're you because no one barks out my name like that," he replied indignantly. "But if it'll satisfy you, what was the last thing I said to you the last time I saw you?" The question was the first thing that had popped into his head.

Snape rolled his eyes, then narrowed them. "I do believe I recall the word 'git' being muttered," he drawled sarcastically. Harry smirked and shoved his wand into his back pocket.

"What are you doing here at such an early hour, Potter? I never thought I'd live to see the day when I would find you in the library."

Harry fisted his hands, annoyed. "Really, Snape? Because I don't think I'll ever live to see the day when you don't act like a sarcastic git," he retorted.

Both of Snape's eyebrows rose, though his expression appeared almost bored. "My, my, not so much of a morning person, are we?" he drawled. "For your information, Potter, that slip of the tongue would have cost you at least fifty points, were we still professor and pupil."

"Whatever." Harry rolled his eyes. Merlin, it felt good to be able to finally do it without consequence. He crossed his arms over his chest, shivering slightly from the chilliness of the castle. "So, what, you were released?" When he'd last seen Snape in the infirmary, the wizard couldn't even walk, and heavily relied on hourly doses of different potions.

Snape put on a serious expression. "No, Potter, I merely created a duplicate of myself, tricked the incessant woman of a Medi-Witch, and made my grand escape from the infirmary. Of course I was released," he deadpanned.

Harry shrugged, but couldn't help a small snort from escaping him. "Right, of course." In all honesty, he himself hated spending any longer than necessary in Pomfrey's clutches, so he could only imagine how much Snape hated it as well.

The two wizards were silent for a moment, Snape appearing to study him. Harry hated the feeling. Their dispute still hung in the between them, making the air stuffy. He decided to cut things short.

"Well, umm, I'll be going, then. See you around, sir," he said awkwardly, making his way to exit the library. He paused at the doorway, however, at Snape's voice.

"Why are you still here, and not at Mr. Weasley's?" The question came completely out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"Why aren't you at the Weasleys?"

Harry had a strange look on his face. Why did it matter to Snape, of all things? He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm Just...not, I guess."

"You're just not?"

Harry began twisting his shirt in his hands, sparing a glance down at his shoes. "Yep."

Snape said nothing for a moment, but instead studied Harry some more, his face a statue. "You are staying here indefinitely." It was a statement, not a question. "Why?"

What was up with all the questions? Harry bristled. "Look, that's none of your business, Snape! What's it to you, anyway?"

"Language, Potter," growled Snape in warning. "It matters' to me whether or not I will have to watch over your trouble-seeking thick head so you don't get kidnapped, or attempt to do something foolish and Gryffindor-ish! There are still Death Eaters gallivanting about, protective wards or not."

This grated Harry's nerves. How old was he? He didn't need a babysitter! "You don't have to babysit me; I've just defeated the darkest wizard of the century, remember?" he retorted sarcastically, evident disdain in his voice. "And I don't seek trouble. Trouble just seems to find me."

"You thick-headed dunderhead, you wouldn't stand a chance against even the lowest-tiered Death Eater! Just because you've defeated the Dark Lord does not mean you are invincible!" snarled Snape, crossing his arms over his chest. Why did he always have to look so intimidating?

"I never said, nor thought, that I was invincible," countered Harry, glaring daggers at Snape. "You don't have to watch over or protect me anymore. I'm a grown wizard, and certainly don't need a sodding babysitter!"

With that said, Harry turned on his heel and marched out of the library, not even bothering to take his books and parchment with him.