“Why in the world would Dumbledore ask you to meet him in an empty classroom instead of his office?” Ron wondered out loud as he and Hermione accompanied Harry to the classroom where Dumbledore had asked Harry to meet him earlier that morning.

“Who knows,” Harry shrugged, “he must have had his reasons to do so.”

“Do you think he will be giving you extra lessons in advance magic, Harry?” Hermione asked eagerly.

Ron gave a shudder at Hermione’s remark. “As if we don’t have enough to do already, that reminds me, can you look over my potions essay for me, Hermione? I don’t want Snape to have anymore reasons to fail me.” pleaded Ron.

Harry grimaced at the thought of his still unfinished potions essay. He had no doubt that Snape would probably fail him whether he finished it or not, but then, like Ron, Harry does not want to give Snape an legitimate excuse to do so.

“I guess we’ll see you later tonight then mate.” Ron’s voice jarred Harry out of his musings. Realizing that they have reached the designated classroom, Ron and Hermione turned around and headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

Harry paused at the door and gave himself a little shake to dislodge the sense of apprehension that had come over him all of a sudden. Harry knocked on the door and hearing no response, he opened the door slowly and slipped into the classroom closing the door behind him.

For a minute, Harry thought that he entered the wrong classroom. For sitting at the front of the class in the teacher’s desk was not Dumbledore, but the teacher he detested the most: Severus Snape.

“What are you doing here, Potter? And where is the rest of your fan club?” sneered Snape looking up from whatever he was reading.

Harry’s fists clenched and for a second considered giving Snape a sharp retort but then decided a simple answer would serve him best. “Professor Dumbledore asked me to meet him here.”

“Well, as you can see, he is not here yet.” Snape replied gesturing the empty classroom, head bending towards the book he was reading prior.

Harry, seeing that there is nothing he could do but wait, took a seat in the back as far away from the front desk as possible and looking everywhere and everything but the front desk.

After examining the graffiti on his desk for five minutes, Harry began to get restless and wondered when Dumbledore will arrive. As much as he had tried to ignore it, the presence of Snape was starting to get on his nerves. Not to mention the only sounds in the room were the ticking of his wristwatch and the sound of Snape turning the pages of his book. Harry decided that he would rather wait outside the classroom where he could be away from Snape’s presence and lookout for Dumbledore in the hallway.

Having decided his course of action, Harry pushed back his chair and walked towards the classroom door, Snape, taking absolutely no interest in his surrounding, remain concentrated on his volume.

Harry turned the doorknob to pull open the door. But to his surprise, the door did not budge. Thinking that he was not pulling hard enough, Harry tried again to yank open the door. Fighting down a wave of panic that he locked in a classroom with Snape, thinking that someone must have locked the door by accident, Harry took out his wand, pointed it at the lock and murmured “Alohomora”

Harry frowned as he tried to open the door again but to no avail. This spell had been infallible so far, why was it not working this time? Harry returned to his seat thinking of all the spells that he knows. There were several curses that he could employ, but he has no doubt that using any one of those curses would result him in losing house points as well as a year long detention probably cleaning the dungeons. Besides what would Dumbledore think when he comes and sees that Harry blasted a classroom door?

Still ignored by Snape and perfectly fine with it, Harry went to the door and tried the unlocking spell again. After casting the spell a few times and still failing to get the door to open, Harry developed the urge to pound on the door and scream at the top of his lungs to be let out.

Glancing at his watch and seeing that they had been waiting for Dumbledore for more than thirty minutes, Harry decided to approach Snape about the problem. Squaring his shoulders, Harry marched up to Snape’s desk. “Er… Professor Snape?” ventured Harry, starting to feel very foolish about what he is going to do. “We have been here for thirty minutes and the door won’t open.” Harry said the last part very quickly.

Severus Snape did not appear to have heard what Harry said, so he tried again. Louder, this time. “Excuse me, Professor, it has been half an hour and Professor Dumbledore has not yet arrived and I can’t get out.”

Seeing Snape still absorbed in his book, Harry strolled back to the door and tried to wretch it open. “I assure you, Mr. Potter, that I am not deaf and I heard you the first time.” came the voice from the front of the class. “However,” continued Snape not looking up from his book, “Although, it is unusual for the Headmaster to be late. But he is a busy man and I suggest that you take a seat and wait for the Headmaster.”

Having nothing else to do, Harry sat at the desk spinning his wand on the desktop. All of a sudden, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and immediately looked up. Snape had gotten out of his seat and walked towards the door. ‘Ha, so you are not as patient as you make out to be either’ thought Harry relishing in the fact that it was Snape who had gotten up first.

After Dumbledore’s failure to show up and Harry failing to open the door, Snape’s senses alerted him that there was something wrong with this. Dumbledore was never late for anything and this was totally uncharacteristic of him, besides he had received instructions from the man himself to come here tonight.

After unable to open the door by force, he realized that Mr. Filch probably locked the door by accident and took out his wand to spell it open. After trying several unlocking spells to no avail, Snape realized that something was wrong, very wrong.

“Out with it, Potter, what did you do to the door?” Snape demanded turning to look at the boy.

Unwavering green eyes looked back at him, “I didn’t do anything to it. I was trying to get it to open. I’ve been trying to tell you that.”

Muttering under his breath, Snape turned back to door trying to unlock it. After several more unsuccessful attempts, Snape decided to blast the door off its hinges. Stepping back well away from the door and motioning for Harry to stand beside him, Snape raised his wand and was ready to blast the door when a voice behind him said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Severus.”

Upon hearing that voice, both Harry and Snape swerved around to see Albus Dumbledore standing behind them, smiling. Dumbledore surveyed the two people in front and waved for both of them to sit down. “Professor…”, “Headmaster…”

Dumbledore raised one hand to stem their questions and proceed to explain. “As I was saying, Severus, it would not be a good idea for you to blast the door with your wand, for I have put a shield charm on it. I am also the one responsible for locking the door.”

“But why…” began Harry

“I ask both of you to refrain from questioning me until the very end, Harry.” Dumbledore said kindly.

“Voldemort’s ability to spread discord among his enemies is well known. I will need the both of you to put aside your differences to prevent Voldemort from taking further advantage of this. Harry, I believe you know the blessing and the curse of your scar.” Dumbledore said turning to look at Harry, “that is why I am giving the both of you the opportunity to settle your differences for once and for all. Ah, yes, you will be needing this.”

With a wave of his wand, Fawkes and a trunk appeared beside Dumbledore. “You will find everything you need inside.” said Dumbledore as he grabbed onto Fawkes’ tail and disappeared leaving both Snape and Harry gaping open mouthed at the spot where Dumbledore stood a moment ago.

For several moments, Dumbledore’s departure appeared to have a stunning effect on the two that were left in the room. Snape was the first to recover and immediately went to the front of the room where the trunk was, opened it and began rummaging around.

Harry followed him and asked, “What did he mean by giving us the opportunity to settle our differences?”

“He meant exactly what he said,” snarled Snape, reading the letter that he had just found in the trunk. “It appears that, Potter, the Headmaster considered our ‘disagreements’ counterproductive to the cause against the Dark Lord. We are condemned to spend time in each other’s company in this room until we have resolved those disagreements.”

“But he can’t do that…” started Harry.

“He did. It would also appear that our supplies are limited to those in the trunk and no further supplies will be given if we are unable to set aside our differences. Not to mention Dumbledore has put a spell to limiting our magical abilities.” interrupted Snape coolly. “Therefore, Potter, I suggest that you go through the contents of the trunk and see what supplies the Headmaster has given us.”

Sullenly, Harry knelt beside the trunk and began pulling out all the items laying them on the floor. Meanwhile, Snape stood behind Harry, overseeing the items that had come out of the trunk: food, water, sleeping bags, some spare robes, and a portable bathing room.

“Professor Dumbledore really thought of every thing didn’t he?” Harry said wryly.

“The Headmaster takes pride in being prepared and rising to the occasion.” Snape said curtly. “Now, Potter, you are old enough to amuse yourself. Do so.” Without another glance at Harry, Snape sat down at the teacher’s desk and resumed reading.

Harry fought the urge to curse Snape into the next dimension. As much as he admired Dumbledore, Harry seriously doubted the Headmaster’s wisdom in this endeavor. After all, it was Snape who started this generation feud in the first place. If Snape had not intentionally pick on him from day one, they would not be locked in a classroom with nothing else but a trunk of supplies and each other for company.

Harry, accepting the fact that they were stuck in here till Dumbledore releases them, decided to make the classroom more habitable. Once opening the package, Harry saw that the bathing room was like the tents he stayed during the Quidditch World Cup, which looked small from the outside, but inside was a fully equipped bathing room.

After placing the rest of their supplies conveniently around the room, Harry decided to try out their bathing room. He took one of the spare robes that Dumbledore supplied and filled the tub with hot water. Before coming to Hogwarts he never had the chance to soak in the bath for as long he liked, therefore he took full advantage whenever the opportunity presented itself. Feeling extremely relaxed even though he was stuck in the same room with Snape, Harry slowly drifted off into sleep.

Harry jousted out of his slumber when suddenly he felt someone or something yank his arm. Turning his head, he saw that Snape was standing beside tub glaring at him. But before Harry to ask what he was doing there, Snape spoke, “If you are going to fall asleep, Potter. Pick a location where you are not likely to kill yourself.” and strolled out of the bathing room.

Harry got out of the tub as soon as Snape was out of the bathing room and dressed in the spare robe that he brought along. He wiped his glasses dry using a towel and went back to the classroom. He was surprised to see that the lights have been dimmed and one of the desks had been transformed into a camp bed and a sleeping bag was already on it. Harry glanced at Snape who was now reading his book under a lamp. Going to a desk where he placed some water bottles earlier, Harry opened one and drank thirstily.

“There is nothing else you could do here, Potter. Go to sleep.” came Snape’s voice.

For once, Harry did not argue with Snape. It had been a long day and being told that he was going to be stuck in the same room as Snape had been draining on his nerves. But there was still a thought that was nagging him, and Harry could not sleep without getting to the bottom of it.

“Er.. Professor, why were you in the bathing room?” asked Harry.

Without even sparing a glance at the boy, Snape replied, “You stayed in there for a very long time, Mr. Potter. Your head was about to go underwater. If I had not gone in when I did, you would have undoubtedly drowned.”

“Oh, I see.” Harry said and snuggled into the sleeping bag.

Snape was about to return to his reading when he heard very faintly, “Thanks professor.”

Harry opened his eyes and reached out to grab his glasses. But when his hand failed to make contact with his bed curtains, the events of last night came rolling back. He quickly put on his glasses, looked around, saw Snape slumbering in a chair, and realized that it was not a dream. He was stuck in a classroom with Snape until Dumbledore decides to let them out.

Hearing movement, Snape roused out of sleep and mentally prepared himself to spend a whole day in the company of Harry Potter. Unlike Harry, Snape had purposely chosen to sleep in a chair as to remind himself of the task that Dumbledore had set him.

“Since you are awake, we might as well eat and think up a method which will satisfy the Headmaster and allow us to return to our lives.” Snape said to Harry.

Seeing that there was no other choice, Harry nodded his consent and went to the desk where he had put the food containers and began exploring their contents. Harry bit back a cry of dismay when he opened all the containers and discovered that instead of ready to eat items, everything that Dumbledore had supplied was raw.

“What is the matter, Potter? Aren’t those the food containers?” asked Snape coming over to see what was taking Harry so long.

“He has got to be joking.” muttered Snape when his cooking spells failed to work. “First, he confines me to spend time with Potter, and now he expects me to cook like a muggle!” Turning to Harry, he saw that the boy was looking at him to dictate their next course of action.

Cursing Dumbledore under his breath, Snape abruptly turned and walked threateningly towards the trunk. Kicking it open, he found that someone had placed muggle cooking utensils and a note some time last night.

‘Dear Severus, Harry,

I forgot to mention that you will have to do your own cooking. Bon appetite.
Albus Dumbledore’

Harry, who had followed Snape, looked into the trunk and remarked wryly, “I guess we will have to cook our own meals.”

Without a word, Snape turned on his heels and strolled purposefully towards the door. Raising his fist, Snape pounded on the door and yelled, “DUMBLEDORE!! I know you are listening outside. LET ME OUT AT ONCE!”

Snape continued to pound on the door and cursing Dumbledore with complete disregard for the age of his audience. Only when his pounding and cursing did not produce any visible response from anyone or anything that Snape dropped to the ground and glared at the door instead.

“It’s no use, Professor.” said Harry coming up from behind him holding a plate. “You know he can be very stubborn.”

Snape did not require elaboration on who ‘he’ was. Now with the smell of food under his nose, Snape heard his stomach grumbling. He took the plate from Harry without a nod of thanks and got up to look for a fork. Snape took his plate and went back to the teacher’s desk and sat down, stabbing his fork into the bacon and eggs and shoving them into his mouth. Snape finished his breakfast and took his plate to the back of the room where Harry had set up as a makeshift kitchen.

“I am surprised that you know how to cook, Potter.” said Snape placing his plate into the bucket of water where Harry had placed the dirty dishes to soak.

Harry shrugged as he organized the cooking utensils. “I had to learn when I was living with the Dursleys. They made me do all the housework and a lot of the cooking before I came here. Scourgify” Harry explained pointing his wand at the bucket. Harry went to the bucket and began taking out the clean dishes and placed them on a desk awaiting their next meal. Turning around, Harry saw that Snape was looking at him.

“What? I didn’t have the dream life as a celebrity you believe me to have.” Harry said bitterly. “When my parents died, I got dumped with my mom’s sister and her family.” Not caring whether Snape was listening to his story or not, Harry continued, “I was my cousin’s punching bag for the first eleven years of my life. They hated and feared magic you know. So whenever unexplainable things happened around them, I was to blame. They locked me in the stairs under the cupboard when I was younger and later in my room.”

Harry glanced around the classroom with a faraway look in his eyes. “It was only when I came to Hogwarts that I was allowed to eat as much as I want and meet people who actually cared about me.” Harry trailed off, wondering why he was telling Snape, of all people, about his childhood.

“What made you think I was interested in knowing about the sordid details of your life, Potter?” Snape asked.

Harry shrugged and said, “You’re not telling me shut up about it either. I don’t talk about those years to everyone I meet. Not even Sirius knew how bad it was.”

Snape was taken back when Harry told him about his childhood. Surely Dumbledore would have explained the circumstances which brought Harry to his aunt and uncle. Under normal circumstances, people would be overjoyed to be given the honour of raising a hero. The fact that Harry had confide in him, rather than his godfather, about his childhood gave Snape an unfamiliar feeling inside.

“Now that we are done listening to the story of your life, I suggest you tidy up this place.” Snape said nodding his head towards the unmade camp bed. Not waiting to see if Harry followed his instructions, Snape turned and headed into the bathing room.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea, Albus?” asked Professor McGonagall peering into the mirror that was showing the image of the classroom which Snape and Harry were locked in. “I do not see how locking two very stubborn people in the same room for three days would improve their relationship.”

“That is the point Minerva.” Dumbledore said smilingly. “Having those two in close proximity of each other with no outside influence would certainly force them face each other.”

Professor McGonagall groaned and muttered, “I hope they won’t kill each other first.”

“Take heart, Minerva,” Dumbledore said patting her hand, “everything will turn out alright. You’ll see.”

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.

Snape opened his eyes and found that the sun had already risen. He sat up gingerly rubbing his neck sore from sleeping in an awkward position. Looking around, Snape found that Harry had gotten up as well. Splashing sounds from the portable bathing room indicated where Harry was.

Harry emerged from the bathing room feeling much more awake. The nightmare from the last night had prevented him from getting a sound night’s sleep. Harry quickly moved aside when he saw Snape strolling towards him.

“Good Morning, Professor.” Harry said and was surprised when Snape acknowledged him with a curt nod.

Surprised that there were no snide comments this morning, Harry went to prepare breakfast. As he was making breakfast, Harry wondered how much longer he was going to have to stay here with Snape. It does not seem they were settling any differences at all. According to Dumbledore’s letter, they were not going to get any extra supplies and looking at the remaining boxes, Harry calculated that there was probably enough food to last through today. Harry sighed, they had better be able to come up with something fast.

All through the morning, Snape noticed that the Potter boy was being unusually quiet and the mood was unusually heavy. This was unlike Dumbledore’s Golden Boy, usually he was outspoken. Snape decided that by lunchtime if the Potter boy does not say anything, he was going to make Harry say it.

Harry ran many ideas through his head trying to find the best way to approach the subject with Snape all morning. But unfortunately, all the ideas he had been able to come up would probably be ridiculed by Snape. Harry was so intended on his mind that he was startled when he heard Snape called his name.

“Mr. Potter,” Snape began, “I am surprised that you are actually capable of such concentration. But this aspect does not suit you.”

Harry gritted his teeth and contemplated poisoning his next meal before telling Snape the situation with the food.

Snape waved Harry’s concern aside before replying. “The Headmaster would not allow us to perish in here considering it would defeat the purpose of this endeavor in the first place.” and went back to his lunch.

The rest of the meal, as well as the cleanup, were continued in silence. Snape went back to his book after the cleanup and left Harry to his own devices. But no matter ho hard he tried, Harry cannot seemed to sit still, so instead he got up and wandered listlessly around the room, all the while wondering if his friends missed him and the homework he needed to finish. Frustrated, Harry decided to start dinner a little early and ration their food, just in case.

The sound of cooking preparation roused Snape from his book. He spared a cursory glance at the Potter boy before going back to his book. Snape was not worried about their food condition for he knew that Dumbledore was observing them to make sure that they were ‘settling their differences’. But then again, he was worried about when Dumbledore would let them go. After all, he had brats to teach and there was no one else truly qualified to teach potions in the school at this time.

When Harry brought him the plate of food, Snape noticed that the portion was much smaller, but did not remark on it.

“I’m rationing our food in case Professor Dumbledore decided that our differences have not been sufficiently settled.” Harry explained wryly as he took a seat across from Snape.

“A wise decision, Mr. Potter,” Snape said between bites of food.

After a pause Snape asked “Tell me, Mr. Potter. Do you honestly believe that we could as the Headmaster would say, settle our differences?”

Harry shrugged. “Depends on your definition of settlement, I hate the Dursleys and they hate me. But we stay away from each other as much as possible and that’s our settlement. On the other hand, between you and me, as long as you stop making those snide comments about my dad and Sirius in public and picking on my friends in class, I would consider our differences settled.” Harry looked up at Snape to see a thoughtful look was upon the potion’s master’s face. It looked as if Snape was giving Harry’s conditions some serious thought.

Snape continued to brood over Harry’s words all through dinner and during the clean up. Since last night, he had already established that Harry was not James, no matter how alike they looked. He was also certain that Dumbledore was now watching his every move and Snape realized that now the whole situation was in his hands.

Harry stared out the window at the darkening sky and sighed. He glanced at his watch and was surprised that it had been almost 72 hours since Dumbledore locked him in the same room as Severus Snape.

‘They should put this down for a world record.’ Harry thought absentmindedly as he glanced over at Snape.

Since that early dinner, Snape had just sat in his chair and closed his eyes, completely ignoring Harry. Although Harry had wondered what was going on in Snape’s mind, he was eager to find out the truth. Harry turned back to the window and continued to look at how the moonlight cast a silvery glow on the school grounds when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

He quickly spun around to see Snape walked determinedly to the door and stood in front of the door with his arms crossed.

“You win, Headmaster.” Snape snarled. “Now would you please let us out?”

Snape knew the Potter boy and Dumbledore were watching his every move. Seeing that there was still no sign about the door opening even after announcing his defeat, he knew what else he must do. Snape gritted his teeth, he should have known that it would not be that easy to gain his freedom.

“Mr. Potter,” Snape said covering his eyes with his hand. “You are not allowed to die from a heart attack or shock at what you are about to hear. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry said meekly utterly confused about what Snape had meant by not allow to die but did not want to ask.

“Alright Headmaster, I will admit that I have been prejudiced against Harry Potter because of his father.” Snape muttered darkly. “Harry is not James. They may look alike, but they are two different people.”

“Ah, what was that again, Severus? I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that lovely speech of yours.” Dumbledore said appearing at the front of the class with Fawkes on his shoulder. “I’m getting old and my hearing is not quite as good as before. So would you mind repeating it again?” His eyes twinkling.

Snape just stood there, his eyes fixated on the Headmaster, his knuckles cracking as he clench and unclench his fists. Seeing that Snape was about to strangle Dumbledore, Harry spoke up. “Uh Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and I have come to an ..” Harry looked at Snape and gulped before continuing, “an understanding. So could we just leave it at that?”

“Well, in that case then…” Dumbledore waved his wand and the door creaked open slightly. “You are free to leave.” and vanished along with Fawkes.

Snape and Harry looked at the open door and at each other before proceeding carefully to the door. With a nod, Snape grasped the doorknob and pull the door open. Both student and teacher stuck their heads out slowly and look down the corridor to make sure that Dumbledore was indeed releasing them.

Seeing that everything appeared to be normal, Harry and Snape nodded at each other. For the first time since they have met each other, they took a deep breath together with one hand on the doorframe and gingerly set one foot into the corridor. Letting out a sigh of relief, Snape and Harry removed the rest of their body from their prison.

Standing the corridor, Harry couldn’t wait to go back to his dormitory, but just as he was about to walk away, he felt a hand clasped down on his shoulder. Turning his head, he knew it was Snape.

“Just because we have settled our differences, Mr. Potter, it does not mean I am going to let you off any easier. I expect you to hand in your essay by tomorrow, just as the same as everyone.”

Harry felt anger immediately surge up inside him and was about to deliver Snape a piece of his mind when he was stopped by Snape.

“However, I will take into account that you were indisposed these past few days, therefore instead of 3 feet of parchment, you may hand it 2.”

Harry’s eyes widen in surprise, “Thanks Professor…”

“But do not expect any changes in the way I treat you or anyone in my class. After all, I have an image to maintain.” With that said, Snape turned his back and headed towards the dungeons, leaving a surprised Harry in the corridor.

“Did I just hear Severus make allowances for a Gryffindor, and Harry Potter no less?” an astounded Professor McGonagall asked.