AN: just a heads up. Trying a new way of handling Snape in this fic. Let me know what y'all think of the change.

My Way's the Fun Way

Chapter 3

-Harry-

Walking down to breakfast, Harry yawned, smirking at the scowls of a few of his dormmates. Particularly Malfoy who now sported Gryffindor red hair with streaks of gold. The other houses noticed too if their snickers were any indication. As he sat down, he noted that the Deputy Headmistress McGonagall was apparently blaming a pair of redhaired twins over at the Gryffindor table for the 'prank' despite their laughing protests.

"Your Schedule." Looking up, he saw Professor Snape standing there. He wasn't scowling anymore but neither did he look happy. If anything his expression was a textbook blank 'poker face' as he handed over the schedule for what classes would start for Harry on Monday.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry nodded, taking the schedule as the greasy haired man gave a stiff nod and continued on down the table, passing out the schedules and working to restore Malfoy's hair to its natural platinum blond color. Finishing up his food as quickly as he could, Harry got up and left the Great Hall. It took a bit of exploring but he found the seventh-floor corridor he wanted eventually, Hermione and Dean showing up not too long after.

"This the place?" Hermione frowned as she looked at what just appeared to be a blank stretch of wall.

"According to the notes, yeah." Harry nodded, double checking his dad's journal before walking back and forth three times, thinking of what he wanted. Sure enough, just as the journal had said, a door appeared on the wall.

"It worked!" Dean grinned before the three of them rushed into the new room, closing the door behind them and turning the bolt that was on their side. His dad's journal had mentioned a 'Room of Requirement' on this floor that only appeared if someone thought of what they needed while pacing on that floor. It would adjust to fit their needs and could even create passages in and out of the castle. His dad and their friends had only discovered it in their last couple weeks at the castle though so the amount they discovered was limited.

Harry and his friends had seven years to experiment with it now.

"So, this is the Room huh?" Hermione looked around the common room like space.

"It's supposed to adjust to suit our needs." Harry nodded before focusing, "I need us to each have our own private rooms in here." At his request, the room began to shake, walls shrinking and moving as three new doors appeared.

"I NEED A LIBRARY!" Hermione didn't waste a moment as the room grew taller, a library appearing above them with staircases going from floor to floor.

Sharing an excited grin, the trio scattered. They explored the new expanded room. Checking out the library it gave them, adding a room to grow potion ingredients or work on brews. Even some magical bird cage looking things that had their own environments inside them for keeping animals. Their own bedrooms were rather basic for now but not only were they spacious, he knew that the room would allow them to adjust as desired. The beds even had their own 'secret passages' to the four poster beds back in their actual common rooms to hide the fact that the three, and anyone else they eventually invited, slept here.

"Wait a minute, won't our room just go away once we all leave?" Hermione frowned, "And if someone else finds it we won't be able to get back in till they're gone."

"Ah, I have a solution to that." Harry grinned before clearing his throat "Deek!" he called out as a house elf appeared with a pop.

"Hello Mr. Harry!" the happy house elf waved, looking about the room curious.

"What the?!" the two muggleborns gaped, having never seen a house elf before.

"Guys, meet Deek." Harry introduced them to one of the Potter family house elves that Dumbledore had looked after till he was old enough to return to the wizarding world, "He's a house elf."

"My family has served the Potters for many generations we has!" Deek nodded happily, shaking Dean and Hermione's hands, "Always been goods to us, the Potters has."

"House Elves and Wizards are meant to have a symbiotic relationship." Harry explained, "House elves bond with a Witch or Wizard and feed of their magic and are supposed to live with said Wizard. In return, the House elves help the Witch or Wizard around their homes."

"So basically, they work for room and board?" Dean asked as Harry nodded.

"Pretty much. A lot of families aren't very good to the elves though." Harry scowled from what he'd learned, "Anyway, Deek and my guardian approved of the idea so Deek can stay here and keep an eye on the room when we aren't here. And if the Room only lets people into our 'secret base' that we choose then we're golden!"

"You've mentioned them a few times. Who is your guardian?" Dean raised an eyebrow as they found seats in their private secret common room.

"Only the coolest person in Diagon Alley." Harry grinned, his new guardian being great to spend time with, "He owns the ice cream parlor!"

"Fortescue's?" Dean asked thoughtfully, likely thinking back to his own alley trip.

"Yep." Harry nodded before his expression became a little sad, "He's actually a friend of the headmaster. Mr. Fortescue is the last of his family in England and didn't want to remarry. He did want to find someone to eventually take over the parlor when he can't work anymore. So, Dumbledore asked him to look after me."

"Free ice cream! Woohoo!" Dean of course only focused on the important implications of such an arrangement, much to Harry and Hermione's amusement. They spent the rest of the morning editing and adjusting the room to their tastes and needs while also discussing who else might be a good idea to 'bring into the fold'. They did still need at least one Hufflepuff to complete the set after all.

-Dumbledore-

"Severus. Are you there?" Albus knocked on his potion master's door, the aged wood creaking as the tired looking man opened the door.

"What do you want Albus?" Severus asked, sounding exhausted beyond anything Albus had heard from him for quite a while.

"I wanted to check up on you Severus." Albus stepped inside at Severus's gesture, looking at his potion master, spy, and friend in concern.

"I…read the letter from Potter." Severus gestured to the old parchment on the table. Dumbledore remembered Harry telling him that he'd gone to Godric's Hollow with Florian. That the boy had looked about his old home and had even found a hidden area that he was keyed in to thanks to his parents. The letter had been between pages of a journal.

"What did it say?" Albus asked, silently thanking an elf who popped in with some tea for the both of them before departing.

"Lily…she said that she and James knew of my connection to the prophecy." Severus grimaced.

"Yes, I told you I'd share the information with them about the Prophecy when you first joined my side." Albus nodded. Back then Severus had been a much younger man, one who hadn't achieved the level of mastery over Occlumency that he had now. After being thrown from the Hogs Head, Severus had of course gone back to a place he had known to be safe, processing what he had heard. The Potion Master's emotions running so high, thoughts so close to the surface, had allowed Voldemort to easily learn of the prophecy through legilimency before Severus could even open his mouth. Estranged or not, Albus liked to think that Severus never would have willingly told Voldemort that prophecy if there was even a chance of the Dark Lord connected it to Lily.

"There was more than that though." Snape pressed, "Lily, she…she said she understood. That she didn't blame me." The relief in those words was palpable, "But more than that, she told me more about here and Pot-…James." Severus looked like he'd been forced to swallow a lemon when he called his old rival by his first name but Albus was proud of his progress, "That the man wished to apologize to me. That the three of us all had a lot to talk about after how we acted back in Hogwarts."

"Would you have gone?" Albus found himself genuinely curious.

"Yes." Severus didn't show an ounce of doubt or hesitance as he admitted it, "Even if just to see Lily again. There was one more thing to the letter though." Severus' gaze became truly haunted "Lily…Lily was pregnant that night." Albus could only imagine the look of horrified grief on his face at what that meant, "Lily said it was going to be a little girl. And that they wanted me to be the Godfather." Albus could tell how much that would have meant to Severus, and how all the revelations were currently conflicting in the man.

"I understand Severus." Albus placed a hand on his companion's shoulder, "If you should ever need to talk. My door will always be open for you."

"I…I may take you up on that." Severus nodded drained, "But for now, I wish to be alone to think."

"As you wish."