Draco was hoping to catch Harry after class to talk to him, but Snape seemed to be thinking along the same lines, and as students filed out of the room, he called, "Mr. Potter, please stay behind for a moment." Draco shot Ron and Hermione a knowing look, and Ron rolled his eyes. Harry didn't see the looks however as he wondered if he were in some kind of trouble again. Now that his father knew about him, Harry did not want to disappoint him by getting into trouble.

When the class was gone, Severus looked at Harry and said, "Your friends have been shooting the both of us curious looks all through class instead of paying attention to their work."

"Oh," Harry said, not sure if this meant he was in trouble or not. He wasn't sure if it was all right that he had told Ron and Hermione or not. "I told Ron and Hermione about... you know."

"I figured as much. It might be wise for the time being to ask them to keep the information to themselves. And Draco as well," he added.

"Why?" Harry's stomach churned. Great, he didn't want anybody to know that he was Harry's father. Was he that embarrassed about him?

"There are certain people who would find out about it and use it to your disadvantage. If those people currently believe you have no living family that you care about, then there is nothing to be used against you."

Feeling confused because he hadn't slept well again last night, Harry asked, "Are you talking about Voldemort."

There was a pause as Severus reveled in the fact that his son was not one to fear a name as the rest of the wizarding world did.

"Yes. I am talking about Voldemort, and his followers. I am not unaware of the prophecy and that you must either kill or be killed. I do not intend to let you fall into the latter category. There are measures that must be taken in order to ensure that you can defend yourself."

"I'm really good in defense. I have top marks every year."

Severus nodded, he already knew. Dumbledore had made sure that Harry had been well trained. He had even encouraged their little ‘club' to flourish after Umbridge was gone, and provided Harry and the others with several advanced defense books.

"There are more ways to defend yourself than with a wand." Seeing the confused look on his son's face, he said, "I speak of Occlumency. I was unaware that you possessed any skill in the art of reaching another's mind until the night you showed me your burdens."

"I didn't mean to," Harry said.

Severus nodded once. "I know. It is important that you learn. Just as you reached my mind, others can reach yours if you do not know how to defend yourself."

Suddenly Harry was biting his lip and looking nervous, and Severus did not fail to notice. "What is it?"

"Can somebody use that on you in your sleep?"

"In slumber the mind is the most weakened and susceptible to subterfuge. Why?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I have these really vivid nightmares... Voldemort is in them. It's like I'm watching through his eyes as he kills people. When I wake up my head hurts and my scar burns. A couple of times that I dreamt about somebody dying, I found an article about it in the paper the next day."

Severus was standing now and walking to Harry quickly.

"You have told no one else about this?"

Harry shook his head. "No."

"Come with me now then."

"But I have Charms."

Severus was shaking his head and taking Harry's arm gently as he lead him towards the door. "Not today. We have more important matters to attend to, and I will speak to the Headmaster about your absence."

Harry shrugged. "I don't think he'll care. I've missed a lot of class in the last few weeks."

Severus raised a brow. "That will stop immediately then, starting tomorrow. Am I understood?"

Harry nodded, rubbing his tired eyes as they walked down the hall towards the Professor's office. Last night he had had one of those dreams where he was Voldemort killing people. It had been a family of Muggles. Luckily there had been no children this time.

Instead of leading Harry to his office, Severus turned a corner and unlocked an intricately carved dark wooden door, and lead him inside.

Surprised, Harry found himself in a medium sized living room with several doors leading off of it.

"Where-"

"My quarters. They are well guarded by protective barriers and charms, and will allow us to be free of eaves dropping."

If anyone had told Harry that he would be getting invited into Severus Snape's private quarters even a week ago, Harry would have laughed, and yet, here he stood.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked cautiously. True, the man was his father, and true he seemed to have Harry's best interests in mind, but Harry was still having a hard time shaking the awkward feeling that he was becoming friendly with an old enemy. He was far to used to being wary of the man to readily accept and trust everything he told him.

"It is of paramount importance that you learn basic occlumency immediately. The dreams you have been having are actual visions from Voldemort's mind. Whether they are implanted or real, I cannot yet say, but if he has entered into your sleeping mind, he can easily gain access to your waking mind as well."

Suddenly Harry felt as alarmed as his father looked, and nodded. "Ok... so what do I do?"

"Sit down." Severus used his wand to move two black leather armchairs that didn't look that comfortable so that they faced each other. Once Harry was seated, he was surprised to find that the chairs were actually very comfortable.

"Now, close your eyes for a moment. Pick one image, or one color. Make it something simple. You must find something without meaning. Something void of emotion or thought. Hold on to this image with everything you have when you open your eyes. I am going to try to invade your mind, and holding on to this one image or color will keep me from seeing anything important to you. Are you ready?"

Harry bit his lip, but nodded, and opened his eyes. Severus looked straight into them and found himself surrounded by bright, blinding white light. Unable to block it out, even closing his eyes, he backed out of his son's mind, impressed that he had done it on his first try.

"Very good Harry. Listen to me carefully. Voldemort is very adept at the art of occlumency. He will exploit any weakness on your part to gain entrance to your mind. From inside your mind he can gain valuable knowledge, he can torture you, and possibly even command your body to stop working."

"What do you mean?"

"If you allow him to take control of your mind, with a single word he can tell your heart to stop beating, your lungs to stop breathing, your brain to stop working. He does not need a wand to kill you."

"Oh."

"It is important that you clear your mind with the image you have shown me every night before you go to sleep. If you do not occlude your mind before sleeping, then he will control it freely. I do not know whether or not he realizes yet that he has this connection to you. If you feel him in your mind at anytime, you must occlude your mind, even if he is not nearby. And then you are to come straight to me, even in the middle of the day, am I understood?"

Harry nodded, thinking that it would be very awkward to wake him up in the middle of the night, or interrupt one of his classes.

"Good." Severus looked down at his watch. "If you go now, you can still make it to the last half of Charms. If you do not have too much work this evening, please come back to see me in my office."

Harry nodded and stood up. He was halfway to the door when he stopped and turned to face Severus, who was still sitting in one of the black chairs, staring off into nothingness.

"Thanks... professor." Hm... that was too awkward. But was he supposed to call him father, or dad, or sir? He didn't know, and he didn't know if he felt comfortable calling him any of those.

Severus looked up at Harry, sensing the uncertainty in his voice. "You are welcome."

* * *

"Well, how's it going then? I saw you two looking at each other in class!" Draco seemed excited as he caught up with Harry after Charms and pulled him into an empty side corridor to get him away from the crowd.

Harry shrugged. "It's awkward, but I think he likes me a little."

"Is he giving you potion?"

Harry nodded. "He said I had to take it for a while after the ulcer went away to be sure it didn't come back."

"Yeah, they made me do that too but you'll be glad when it's gone, trust me."

"I have to learn something called occlumency."

"Yuck. My father tried to teach me that but I was daft at it. He ended up throwing a statue from the mantle at me because he was so mad. I didn't know uncle Severus knew how to teach it though or I would have asked him to do it."

"Uncle?" Harry wasn't sure if he had heard it right. "Are we... are we cousins?"

Draco shook his head. "Don't be stupid. Well... maybe fifth cousins or something like that. No, he's my godfather. Father insisted on it. I grew up calling him uncle though... that was at mother's insistence."

"Your family's strange," Harry said, but then thinking that perhaps if his mother was still alive that he might have grown up calling Sirius ‘uncle' as well.

"Yeah, they're something all right," Draco said. "Well, maybe you'll have better luck at occlumency then I did. I have to get to class. I'll see you at lunch." He hurried off and Harry headed for the common room. He had an hour break and needed some time to think about things.

* * *

Harry knocked on his father's office door after dinner that night and was invited to come inside. Now that he had seen his father's quarters he thought his office looked a little sparse and unwelcoming.

His father took a seat in the other visitor's chair, and seemed slightly uncomfortable about something.

"Are we doing more occlumency lessons?" Harry asked when his father hadn't said anything for a few moments.

"Not quite," Severus said. "I... wanted to ask if you would share something with me."

"Like what?" Was it just him, or was the air getting thicker?

"That night you showed me what was in your mind, I was allowed a brief glimpse into your life. I realize that it is a bit late to be getting to know... my son, but I do want to know about you."

"Oh, um... what do you want to know then?"

"The truth. I have greatly misperceived you these past seven years. I would like to know who you are Harry. Of course, it is your choice, but it is only a request."

Harry's voice cracked a little as he said, "I don't think you want to see what I've been through... you might..."

"What?"

Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to show him, because he might think less of him for it. He might think less of him for all the beatings he received, for all the housework he'd done, for all the time he'd run from Dudley and his gang of friends.

"You'll think I'm weak. You'll think I'm a fool."

Severus shook his head. "There is nothing you could show me to make me think that."

After long moments trying to decide whether or not to show his father the hell he'd lived through, Harry decided that he did want him to know, and looked up into his father's eyes, willing him to see into Harry's memories.

Severus found himself back at Four Privet Drive, in a cold, dark, cramped space, wondering where he was. Suddenly there was pounding somewhere to his left and Harry was pulling a little string to turn a light on, revealing a small cupboard. "Get up you lazy little brat!" It was his aunt shouting at him. "You can't pretend to be sick forever! Breakfast needs cooking and it better not be burnt this morning!" And then the memory changed.

Harry was a little older this time, perhaps seven or eight, and his uncle was advancing on him with fists clenched. "I didn't do it," Harry pleaded. "Didn't do what?" his uncle spat at him angrily, face already red, "didn't end up on the bloody school roof?"

"The wind caught me! Dudley was chasing me and I leapt and suddenly I was up there!" And then Harry was being pounded relentlessly. The memory was changing again, and Harry was in the back yard being beaten up by his cousin and one of his friends, and the memory changed again, and his uncle was pushing him under the water in an icy cold bath, and holding him under until he had nearly passed out. And again a new memory, and a nasty dog was biting Harry's leg as he cried and his relatives watched on, laughing uncontrollably as if they'd been told a fantastically funny joke, and then Harry was holding Cedric's lifeless body, and Sirius was falling through the veil, and he was rampaging in the Headmaster's office breaking everything in sight, and then there was blinding white light, and Severus was let free of his son's hold on his mind.

It was long quiet moments before Severus caught his breath. He looked up weakly into his son's eyes. "Were there no joyous moments in your life?"

Weak with the memories and effort it had taken him to show his father all of these things, Harry said quietly, "Not until I came here." And then he was willing his father to see the precious few truly happy memories he had.

Hagrid was telling him that he was a wizard and presenting him with his first ever birthday cake, he was being assigned a real bed with real blankets and a soft pillow, Ron and his brothers were outside his bedroom window in a flying car ready to take him away from Privet Drive, Harry was catching a Snitch, Harry and Hermione were flying Buckbeak to a tall tower and releasing Sirius from impending doom, his stomach was filling with butterflies as he asked a girl to go out with him, he was suddenly finding out that his father did want him, and then there was the brilliant white light again, and Severus was back in his office.

Severus was watching Harry curiously, and Harry was looking at his knees as he leaned back in his chair.

"Why did you not tell someone about the treatment you received from your relatives?"

Harry shrugged. "It didn't matter."

Frowning, Severus said, "It does matter," but Harry was shaking his head.

"You don't understand... you can't."

Severus sighed. He wanted to tell his son that he had grown up the same way, being beaten for no reason, being pushed under the icy water, being worked hard every day, but something deep down made him hold back, and he suddenly realized how Harry felt, thinking that perhaps he might think less of him for the things he had suffered. Severus worked hard every day to portray the image of a strong man who didn't let anything get to him. But hadn't Harry already broken down that barrier? First by getting under his skin, then by fighting him tooth and nail, and then, by breaking his heart?

"I understand more than you know."

Harry looked up and met his gaze briefly, but then the boy's eyes flickered back down to his knees. "None of it matters. None of it."

"How can you say that?" Severus didn't understand. He had struggled for years with what his father had put him through... had struggled well into his adulthood, and now here his son sat telling him that it didn't bother him at all?

Harry was biting his lip again. "Can, can we not talk about it anymore?" He chanced a glance up at his father in time to see him nod.

"Whatever you want Harry. It's getting late anyway. Perhaps you should return to your common room."

Harry got up and made for the door. He was almost out when a hand gently grasped his wrist. Harry stopped but didn't turn.

"Thank you... for showing me."

Harry nodded and walked out.