When Snape came out of the bathing room, he found had Harry had finish making lunch and setting two plates on teacher’s desk. The sound of their cutlery was the only sound present as the two finished their lunch of chicken and potatoes. Snape returned to the book he was reading the previous night while Harry did the dishes. The afternoon passed by quickly and soon Harry found himself preparing dinner for the two of them.

Snape’s reading was interrupted by the sound of Harry trying to cut up a squash on one of the desks. Seeing the difficulty that Harry was having, Snape pointed his wand at the squash. Harry jumped back when he saw the jet of light hitting the squash and the knife began cutting up the squash by itself. Harry gave Snape a nod of thanks and continued to prepare dinner.

Snape paid no attention to Harry until he heard the sound of a plate setting before him and the smell of mashed squash and fried ham assaulted his nostrils. Looking up, he saw that Harry had sat down across from him and had already started eating. Halfway through their meal, Harry broke the silence by asking.

“Don’t you ever hold conversations with other people during dinner?” Hearing no response from his stoic teacher, Harry continued, “Eating with you reminds me of the meals I had while living with the Dursleys. No one ever pay attention to me and they pretended that I wasn’t there at all.” Harry went on to describing what eating with the Dursleys’ was like.

When Harry finished recounting of the horrid dinner with Aunt Marge, Snape finally responded. “Why can’t you tell this to your godfather whom I’m sure would be more interested and sympathetic to your tragic childhood?” He asked.

Harry looked up at his teacher and said quietly, “At least I’m trying to accomplish what Professor Dumbledore wants.” With that said, Harry got up from the desk and took his plate with him. After dumping the plate into a bucket of water to soak, Harry headed to the bathing room.

“Stupid bloody Snape,” Harry muttered as he undressed, “here I am making an effort to ‘settle our differences’, working like a house elf, and all he does is bloody read and make snide remarks.” Climbing into the tub, Harry dunked his head underneath the warm water and began vigorously scrubbing himself to vent his frustrations. Harry felt better when he got out of the tub, however as he was dressing, he remember that there are still dishes to be washed and let out a growl.

“He’ll probably have left me to wash the dishes.”

But Harry was pleasantly surprised that when he walked out of the bathing room, the room had been cleared up and the lights dimmed.

‘Well, at least you’re not completely useless.” Harry thought as he went to get a drink of water. Seeing that Snape was still engrossed in his book and the dim lights were making him sleepy, Harry climbed into the camp bed and promptly fell asleep.

If Harry had stayed awake a little while longer, he would have realized that Snape was not concentrated on the book, but rather on his own thoughts. Snape always appeared to be emotionless and incapable of self reflection on the surface, but it was necessary when you were a death eater. No matter how much he disliked the Potter boy, he could not deny the truth of the boy’s statement. Ever since he had set eyes on the Potter boy, all his dislike for the boy’s father just surfaced. It did not help that the boy looked remarkably like his father. Snape was keenly aware of James’ personality and family background. But until he heard the tidbits that Harry had let lose these past two days, he had to admit that although Harry resembled James in almost every way, Harry’s childhood was something he could sympathized with. Snape had to admit that Dumbledore’s method of forcing to be in close proximity with each other alone did give him an opportunity to see the differences between Harry and James.

Snape turned his head to look at the boy sleeping on the camp bed and saw that the Potter boy was sleeping precariously at the edge of the cot. Snape got out of his chair and nudged Harry’s arm so he would shift himself away from the edge. Snape took an extra blanket from the trunk and tucked the blanket around the boy. While he was doing that, Snape took a good look at Harry’s face. He saw the defiance and determination that were characteristic of James and Sirius, but beneath that defiance was a shadow of sadness that James never possessed and Sirius would probably never understand. Seeing that Harry’s blanket was tucked in well around his form, Snape turned and looked out the window at the moonlit sky.

Harry’s eyes flew open and looked widely around him. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that he was still at Hogwarts and was not being chased by Dudley and his gang. Sitting up in bed, he found that he had an extra blanket was tucked firmly around him. Harry drew his brows together knowing full well that he did not have that blanket before, and considering that there was only Snape in the room, it had to be him.

Harry put on his glasses and saw that Snape had fallen asleep at the front desk. Harry regarded his sleeping teacher and tired to figure out what had possessed the stoic potions master to tuck in his most despised student. Could it be that Dumbledore’s idea was really working? Harry yawned, there was no point in trying to understand what goes on in Snape’s mind. He might as well get some sleep and see what tomorrow brings.

Sunlight filtered into the room and upon the two sleeping forms with the dawning of another day. Dumbledore smiled benevolently as he watched the two. The headmaster turned his head when he heard a knock on the door.

“Good Morning, Minerva.” Dumbledore said smiling at the stern professor.

“I see they have managed not to kill each other.” Professor McGonagall remarked dryly.

Professor Dumbledore chuckled at the comment and shook his head.

“Still doubting the wisdom of my plan?” Dumbledore asked.

“Of course not, Albus,” Said Professor McGonagall as she peered into the mirror. “But you cannot keep them in there forever even if they do not settle their differences.” She added turning to her friend and frowned when she saw Dumbledore doubling over in laughter.

“If only you knew, Minerva. If only you knew.” Dumbledore gasped out and shaking his head.

“The door is unlocked. Those two could have left anytime they wanted for the past two days.” Dumbledore explained between breaths.

"Albus! How could you?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed while shaking her head in dismay. "I hope Harry and Severus doesn't find out." she added under her breath.