About an hour later, Harry walked to the door of Snape's classroom for his advanced potions class. As he entered the door, a hand reached out and grabbed the back of his robe, pulling him back out. He nearly assumed it was Severus, but spun around to see Hermione with a small smile on her lips.

"Harry," she said. "I'm in a rush, but you're having dinner with me tonight, okay?"

Harry was caught off guard and began to say something along the lines of "I'll try to make it" before she cut him off.

"Not a request," she corrected him. "I'll see you at half past six." With that,

she turned on her heels and walked down the hall quickly, leaving no time for protest, question, or clarification from Harry.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, perfectly happy to spend dinner with his friend. He turned around again and walked into the classroom. He hadn't really any friends in this class, but he always sat next to the same 4th year girl with whom he was friendly. They hardly ever exchanged any words, though. She looked up and smiled at him as he sat down. He smiled back.

Snape entered the classroom with far more confidence than he had in the past weeks. His bruises were gone as he'd healed himself. He walked behind his desk, grabbed his book, and walked up to his podium where he began to write on the board immediately and instruct his students to turn to a page in their textbooks. His face was less scowled and scrunched. Instead, he wore a confident, calm expression and spoke with a less strained cadence.

"He's looking a lot better," the girl beside Harry whispered to him. "A lot more relaxed. I wonder what happened."

"I agree," Harry responded; a satisfied and proud look on his face.

Despite all his thoughts and feelings from the past 24 hours, Harry had no choice but to focus on the lecture. The reality was, he had actually gotten a bit behind in advanced potions in the past few weeks. He'd nearly failed their last examination and needed to make it up on the one coming up next week.

Severus took note of Harry's feverish note taking and slowed the pace of his lecturing. He had promised Harry that their relationship would never impact Harry's performance in his classes; positively or negatively. He had said that, by making sure not to give him favoritism in class, they were building a better case should they ever be discovered. Despite that, Severus thought a little help here and there wouldn't hurt; especially something as small as this.

Harry noticed that his professor had slowed down and began writing more notes on the board as he taught. He looked up at Snape, made eye contact with him, and gave him a thankful nod. He put this head back down and returned to his note taking. He wondered whether or not asking Severus to help him study would go against their agreement. He planned to ask either way.

As the end of class finally came, Harry packed up slowly. Just as he used to when they'd first started meeting, he hung behind until he was the last one to filter out of the classroom. Severus usually stood by the door as the students left, but this day he'd gone straight to his desk. He was behind on his grading and needed to get caught up. Once the two were alone, Harry quickly trotted over to Snape's desk, grabbed his hand, intertwined their fingers, and whispered "I love you" to him before popping out into the hallway and heading for his dorm to clean up.

Severus looked after him, an "I love you too" hanging on his lips, but not broaching reality. He smiled as he turned back to the parchment in front of him. Harry made him feel foolish sometimes; smiling like a teenage boy to himself in his office at the very thought of the boy.

—

Harry had washed up, combed his hair, and changed out of his robes. He donned something much more comfortable before making his way to the great hall. Hermione seemed to have intentionally sat herself with several seats between her and the next student. It was clear she had something to say to Harry, and his stomach clenched itself slightly as he approached her.

"Hey," he said, sitting himself across from her. "How're you doing?"

"Harry," she said, looking up with a smile. "I feel like we've hardly seen each other lately." It was true. Since the day Hermione found out about Harry and Severus, Harry had been subconsciously avoiding her. He didn't want to address his feelings. So much had changed in the past 24 hours, though.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Hermione. That's my fault. I've been trying to get caught up on my advanced potions work. I haven't been making time for anyone in my life lately." He grabbed a roll from a basket on the table and began to butter it.

"Is that it?" She asked. "Because Ron said you disappeared from your bed last night." She looked at him intensely and sipped from the glass in front of her. "Spill it," she said plainly, catching his bluff.

Harry looked embarrassed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He kept his voice very low and leaned in so only she could hear. "Ron and I and a couple others got drunk last night, and-"

"On a Sunday?" Hermione exclaimed, judging the decision just as Snape had while they were in bed that morning.

Harry looked up at her. "Yes. Can I continue?" He responded with an eye roll.

She put her hands up as if to apologize and then calmly said "continue."

"I tried to go to sleep. I really did. But I got so angry." Hermione watched as he clenched his jaw. "I've had so little security in my life. I've never known who I can trust. I finally had someone and it was ripped away from me." He dragged his hands down his face. "Do you know what that's like? To have your first bit of security taken from you?"

She looked at him sympathetically and shook her head no.

"I was so angry…" he repeated. He said the next bit with a sigh as he closed his eyes in shame. "I turned up at his quarters."

Her eyes went wide. "Harry, you didn't!" She exclaimed, shocked and not knowing whether or not she should reprimand him for something he surely already knew was inappropriate.

"I had the pass code to the common room and the one to his quarters. He'd given them to me in case of an emergency." He took a deep breath. "I beat the hell out of him, Hermione. I kept going as hard on him as I could. I bruised his ribs and I broke his nose, and I left bruises across his stomach and…" Harry was beginning to tear up and covered his face the best he could so as to make sure it stayed between the two of them.

"Harry…" she said, not really knowing how to continue the sentence. She was astonished at what he'd done, but also felt a pang of sadness in her chest as she watched her friend recount his own actions with horror.

"Then he grabbed me and held me; first to get me to stop, but then just to hold me." Harry's face softened somewhat again. "And everything felt safe again. I couldn't be angry anymore." He looked down again. "And then we just laid together all night." He looked up at Hermione and made eye contact with her. "I just missed him so much. I love him so much…" He trailed off, fighting off the tears that once again threatened to overflow from his eyelids with all his might.

Hermione studied him for a moment. She thought about her response thoroughly before replying, "Aren't you worried he's going to do it again? Then you'll be right back in that bad place again."

"If he does, so be it. I would rather have him now than not at all. At least I have another chance to be with him, even for a little bit."

"Harry, it's been killing me to see you so upset. I'm so worried you're going to get hurt again, but I can't help but feel somewhat relieved for you." She reached a hand across the table and held Harry's. "Thank you for telling me. I feel so privileged that you trust me enough to share with me."

"You're one of my best friends. Of course I trust you. I wish I could tell Ron, but I really think he'd judge me for it, and I'm not sure he'd be okay with it. I just want the two of you to know because I hate lying to you." Harry looked sincere. He felt truly awful for not divulging and important piece of information to his best friend, but he didn't know how.

Hermione looked at Harry and grabbed his hand. "I'll tell him," she said. "You know I'm the only one who can make absolutely sure he never says a word."

It was true. She had Ron wrapped around her little finger. Harry wanted to oppose it out of fear, but he instead nodded. He knew that Hermione ultimately knew what she was doing. She would be able to make Ron understand, or at least make him lie well enough that Harry'd think he understood. Frankly, Harry didn't mind a little lie if it made him feel better. He just wanted to feel one ounce lighter of guilt.

He thanked her before finishing his dinner and heading out of the great hall. He went up to his dormitory where he quickly wrote a note, sent it with Hedwig, and then flopped down on his bed for a nap. His mind felt strangely at peace knowing that he would soon have both his best friends' support on his side. He closed his eyes and found himself at rest.

Meanwhile, Severus was finishing up his evening lecture. It was an elective class which only met every other Monday evening, and he quite enjoyed the group of students. Unlike his other classes, all the students were there of their own volition. They were all gathered together because they wanted to learn. That made Snape happy because he didn't feel like he was serving as a babysitter for children who didn't want to be there.

"Mr. O'Malley, can you please tell me why we do our best to avoid using mugwort in potions that contain artemisia?" Snape asked, directing his question to a student in the second row.

Just as the student went to answer, Hedwig flew to the window, dropped a note on its ledge, and flew away. Harry had instructed her not to enter the room in order to ensure that Severus was the only one to see whose owl it was. The student answered as Severus walked to the ledge and grabbed the note.

"Very good," he responded to the student, not having honestly listened to the answer that was given.

He opened the envelope and pulled out the note. Simple as always, it said, "Meet me at our spot at nine o'clock. - H."