Wow, this chapter took a bloody long time if I do say so myself. I am going to try and continue this, simply because I love you all. Awww…

By the by, if you are into Slytherin fics, try this new one I found, by elvenquill, called Serpent Carvings. It’s quite good, but I can only hope that she finishes it and doesn’t leave it for ages as I have done with this one. *blushes*

Serpent Tongues & Snape

Chapter Three – A New Beginning… or is it?

Harry was tired. Harry was very, very tired. He had not slept for several days, and had not attended Potions class the past few lessons. Professor Snape had noticed this, and had passed it off as a simple, “Potter thinks he’s too good for class,” to please the Slytherins, and even he let himself smile a little at their readiness to insult each other.

Hermione and Ron, his two ‘faithful’ sidekicks had been worried about him… but Harry didn’t care. His world was different, and it was crashing down around him… he was no longer the son of Padfoot. He felt distanced from everything that he knew… no long Padfoot’s son, no longer related to the man he had idolised for so long in his life.

And his mother? Lily Potter… Evans… Snape… Harry shuddered at the thought. Minutes after he had left Snape’s office, after being changed to his supposed “real” form, a cold realisation had hit him. This was SNAPE. The man who he had thought had been after the Philosopher’s Stone in first year, the one who had tormented them all in classes, who favoured the Slytherins…

…and he was Harry’s father.

At the moment, Harry was sitting by himself near the lake, under a tree, hands playing absentmindedly with the dirt beneath him. He was sure he was missing something – lunch, or Transfiguration maybe. It didn’t matter too much, not when he had so much to think about. He felt lost… Severus Snape. Severus Snape had helped to create him.

“Harry Snape,” he mouthed, but even the words were unfamiliar in his mouth.

“Whatever is the matter, Harry Potter?” came a hissing voice from his side.

“Don’t,” Harry hissed back, choking somewhat, his hand clutching a handful of dirt. “Don’t call me by that name.”

* * *

“Now,” Professor Severus Snape snarled to his students. “We will be continuing our tradition of truth potions and begin with one step up in strength… this is stronger than the last we made, and may I say, none of you hardly even survived that one. It was one of the weakest truth potions in existence, but after a few minutes of questioning, half of you were ready to spill your guts. Pitiful. Absolutely shocking… none of you would do well in any career that needed lying… so therefore, none of you here will have a successful career.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew how to dodge questions… too bad Ron was so bad at lying. She could weasel the truth out of him even without a truth potion.

“Partner up,” he snapped to them. “And for crying out loud Miss Brown, stop staring at Finnigan as though you could eat him and partner up with Parkinson.”

Lavender Brown shot him a death glare and gathered up her things, setting them down with a huff next to Pansy Parkinson, who looked none to pleased to have Lavender as a partner, either.

In a short space of time, the class had partnered up, except for Harry, who was busy staring down into his Potions textbook, a vein twitching in his neck.

“Potter,” Snape drawled, feeling slightly uncomfortable but doing his best not to show it. “There is an uneven number in the class. You shall work up front with me.”

Harry did not move, but after an elbow from Hermione was jabbed in his ribs, he got up and shuffled lethargically towards the front, and began to assemble his ingredients. Snape looked around the class to make sure everyone was working, and looked down into Harry’s cauldron.

“Put the feathers in next, Potter,” Snape said to him. Harry tensed somewhat, but he did not respond. Snape sighed inwardly. Truth be told, he was much more awkward about the situation than Harry was, but decades of spying had led him to always assume a mask of cold indifference.

“I think we should speak after class, Harry,” Snape said to him in a low voice.

His head jerked up. “And what could we possibly have to talk about?” he snapped, colour rising to his cheeks furiously.

Snape frowned. “Everything. You have been missing from my classes the past few days… is…” Snape paused, feeling the words unfamiliar in his mouth, but felt it was his duty to ask them. “Everything all right?”

“Yes,” Harry said sarcastically. “Oh, don’t worry about be, I’m fine, always will be fine,” he spat.

“Well of course it’s not fine,” Snape snapped, losing his temper somewhat. “As much as you want to bury your head in the sand we have a situation in our hands, and ignoring it will change nothing,” he hissed viciously.

“Yes,” Harry said. “Ignoring the situation will do nothing. I’d much rather prefer to ignore you.”

Nothing more was said on the matter, and Harry refused to speak to him, which was quite a change from the last time they had met. Severus Snape had thought they were at least getting somewhere… he never really had hated the boy as much as he had claimed. More the fact that he hated what he stood for – the fact that so many years ago, his love had been ripped from him, and up until now, he had believed that Harry had been James’s son... something that could destroy a man. His chest had ached every time he had seen those green eyes staring at him, usually with either hate or loathing – which were the same thing, he admitted to himself. He did not deserve a son. Perhaps it had been a mistake to tell Harry of his true parentage… he imagined Harry meeting his mother, and nearly snorted. No, he told himself sternly. Pay attention to the class.

* * *

Severus collapsed in his old armchair. “What a day…” he muttered to himself. Potions with all the fifth year classes, and one of the seventh years. Harry… he was always a puzzle.

The last time Harry had come to see him, he had ended up taking the charm off him for a few minutes, as curious as he was to see what he looked like. Now? Harry wanted to never see him again… which, again, was understandable of the circumstances.

* * *

“Severus,” Lily whispered, her eyes filling with concern. “You’re hurt.”

Severus looked up from where he was cradling a wrist… most probably a broken one, Lily thought to herself.

“Go away, Lily,” Severus snarled. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Lily’s temper flared up, as he knew it would. “Shouldn’t BE here? Trying to find my own BOYFRIEND? How DARE you!”

She was cut off by a slight groan from Severus. “Lily, as much as I love hearing you yell,” he muttered sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. “I am in pain… can’t you do something?”

She bit her lip. God, how he loved her lips… and her flaming red hair, how he loved everything about her…

“Shouldn’t we go to Madame Pomfrey?” she ventured, unsure.

“No!” he said sharply. “No,” he repeated to himself. “Please… just do something.”

Lily sighed, and knelt down next to him, bringing out her wand. He watched as she muttered a short spell, and the pain from his arm disappeared.

“Thank you,” he said to her briefly, his dark eyes looking at hers. “You are so beautiful,” he muttered, hardly aware of what he was saying.

Lily looked at him and smiled. “And you, Severus Snape… despite what you may think about yourself, are a beautiful person too.”

“If I’m so beautiful, why do I have a broken wrist? Did,” he corrected himself.

She frowned. “How did you get that, any way?”

Severus sighed, and leant against the brick wall of the topmost of the Astronomy tower. “Some Gryffindor cronies,” he said.

“Sirius?”

“Black… yes, him… damn Black…”

Lily sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, stopping to cup his chair. “Forget about Black,” she said firmly. “He is not worth any of this.”

“I know…” he muttered. Severus looked up to lock her eyes with his. “But it was worth it, just to have you alone for a few moments,” he whispered.

* * *

YAAAAAAAAAAY! ONE MORE CHAPTER! Man, it took awhile, didn’t it? Nevermind, I am hoping that you all enjoyed this one. But I am very disappointed that neither evil cheese OR leather pants showed up in this one. *pouts*

Oh well, maybe next chapter. Anyhoo, review! I wrote this chapter simply for YOU, the people who reviewed me, and I am SO INCREDIBLY SORRY it took me so long. *hits herself* Ow.

Review, and evil cheese MAY just feature in the next chapter. Or leather pants. On Draco. Or Snape… ooh, the possibilities…