"You're abnormally quiet this evening," Snape drawls as he sits in his chair in our rooms. He's reading something, but I can't tell what it is from where I'm sitting in the kitchen.

"I'm just thinking," I reply while finishing my essay.

"Thinking about what exactly?"

I turn around and glance at Snape. Maybe if I come clean then he won't punish me so badly. I fiddle with the bottom of my shirt before walking towards him. I can feel his dark eyes staring at me. I bite my bottom lip and meet his gaze.

"Harry?" he asks softly before standing up. "What is it?" His voice is surprisingly concerned. He then moves towards me, but I instantly take a step back. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"I…I…" I can't form the words, though. I just stare at him, wanting desperately to tell him not to read my Potions exam. I just can't form the words. In the back of my mind, I know that he's probably going to use our link and intrude on my privacy. But for some reason he doesn't. He just stares at me and waits for me to say it. "I'm sorry," I whisper.

"For what reason, Harry?" he asks with slight confusion.

I open my mouth to speak again, but the door opening to my right makes me glance at it. I watch Professor Sinistra walk in frowning at me. She knows. She has to know. I glance back at Snape and try to force myself to speak. To come clean and tell him about my exam, but the stupid words aren't coming out. Nothing is. I'm just stuck there, gaping at Snape like a stupid fish.

"I believe that what he is trying to tell you is that he and young Mister Malfoy were talking in their History of Magic class," she says before stopping near the couch where I sit. She folds her arms across her chest in a manner similar to Snape. "In fact, according to my source, it appears that Harry here was trying to rope Malfoy into accompanying him on a secret treasure hunt."

"He what?" growls Snape before glancing at me. "Is this true? Were you attempting to go behind my back to do specifically what I told you not to do? Were you going to search for that sword? Answer me, Harry. Were you going to search for that sword after I specifically told you not to?"

I direct my glare at Professor Sinistra. She returns one of a more severe degree than my own. I sigh heavily then. I hadn't wanted Snape to find out about that. I then glance at Snape and huff in annoyance. Nothing ever goes my way.

"Yeah, but I was just talking about doing it. I hadn't actually done anything yet," I argue.

"Yet being the keyword in that sentence," Professor Sinistra replies. She then shakes her head. "You can direct your little four-year-old temper tantrum at me all you want. But if you think for a moment that I'm just going to stand by idly while you go off and do another ridiculous stunt of yours, than you are sorely mistaken, Mr. Potter. That sword, wherever it is, does not need you to find it. You are not a treasure hunter, Mr. Potter. You are a fourth-year Gryffindor who should only be focusing on his studies, not gallivanting about the castle looking for a thousand year old sword."

"I am focusing on my studies, though," I argue.

"By using your free time daydreaming about recapturing the supposed Sword of Slytherin?" she responds with disbelief. She then shakes her head again, and her frizzy dark hair bounces softly against her shoulders. "Do you understand that we aren't doing this to be cruel, Harry?" She then kneels in front of me, and I cannot help but feel ashamed. I glance at the floor trying to look anywhere but at her. "Look at me," she softly says before gently cupping my chin and turning my face towards her. "Harry, going off to find Slytherin's sword doesn't make you brave or even cool. It makes you foolish. Do you know why?" I shake my head slowly. "Because you're leaving behind two people who care so much about you, Harry," she whispers. "Do you know why Severus is glaring at you and is probably thinking of various disgusting punishments for you right now?"

"Because I disobeyed him," I answer softly staring at the floor.

"No, Harry," she replies. My head whips up, and I stare at her in disbelief. "It's because he loves you. If something happened to you again, well, let's just say you've managed to make the cold unfeeling bastard care again."

I then glance to Snape. Sure enough, he is glaring, but the glare quickly morphs into just a disappointed face.

"Should I start now then?" I quietly ask.

"Start what, Mr. Potter?" he responds coolly.

"Deinking the octopi," I answer.

He raises an eyebrow, but shakes his head. "For now, you may return to your essay. We shall speak about your punishment later."

"Yes, sir," I say nodding slowly. I walk back to the island in the kitchen and sigh. I pick up my quill and continue to write my essay on Dittany that Hagrid assigned us for Herbology. I quickly become engrossed in my essay again, which is probably just another sign that I'm trying to escape my current predicament.

Sometime later, I hear Professor Sinistra moving around the room, but I'm trying to ignore her. It isn't because I'm angry with her because I'm not. I should be, but she is right. It is foolish to run off and try to find that stupid sword. Honestly, what is that sword going to do anyway?

"What in the bloody hell is this?" growls Snape suddenly.

I whirl around and glance at him. He doesn't meet my glance, though. Instead, he shakes his head angrily and rolls his eyes before scribbling something at the very top of the paper. My eyes narrow on him, but I watch him grab the next paper from the stack.

"Honestly, waste of a perfectly good potion," he mutters.

I close my eyes as I realize he is grading the Potions exam. If I wasn't in enough trouble before, I certainly am going to be now once he finds my exam. I then sigh as I stand up. Slowly, I walk towards him. Maybe the second try won't fail so badly as the first.

"Um…Snape," I say softly. His dark eyes glance up at me before he sets down the exam he is correcting. "I…um…I wanted to tell you earlier, but I didn't have the chance to." He clasps his hands and appears to be calm. I can see Professor Sinistra lowering her Astronomy book to stare at us. "I, well, Professor Vector said you were grading the Potions exam."

"Yes," he drawls.

"Well, I don't know if you got to mine yet, but, well, I'm sorry. That was what I was trying to say earlier. I'm sorry for what I wrote on question four." There is no reaction from him. Then again, I don't really expect one either. "And I've been thinking about what Professor Sinistra said earlier. It was stupid of me to think about even trying to find Slytherin's sword. Every term I have something or someone trying to kill me, and here I go this summer wanting to go off to find a sword that may or may not exist that probably would only end up making me get hurt in the end anyway. I should just focus on my schoolwork and act like a normal kid. And she's right that I'm foolish for being angry with you two also. You're both just trying to protect me."

"I see," replies Snape before drawing in a breath. "And how did you come to this realization?"

"Well, I…um…you know just thought about what she said." I then sigh. "You used to call me a selfish and arrogant child. I guess you're right about that." His eyes instantly narrow on me, but I continue. "I was focusing on myself with the whole sword thing. I wanted to find it. I don't really know why. I just know that I wanted to be the one who found it. Stupidly, I thought that I could just go off looking for it and it'd just pop up out of the ground or something. That was somewhat arrogant of me. Things aren't supposed to come easy to people. If they do, then something's wrong. Like, for example, my first year, I was so happy to be here at Hogwarts because I wasn't with the Dursleys. It was easy to forget that I lived with them. Until I had to go back to them at the end of the term, you know," I say. "Then my easy was gone, and the hard started again."

"Mr. Potter, that is quite enough," Snape interrupts. He furrows his eyebrows before sighing. He then glances at his stack of exams already graded. He quietly pulls one out and holds it out to me. I give him a questioning look. "Just take it, Potter," he responds.

I do as he says and immediately feel my heart sink. He's read it already. However, I nearly faint when he points at the grade. I glance at him with another shocked fish face. He only rolls his eyes at me.

"I got…got a…really?"

"No, Harry, I just mark all of my students' exams with an O," he drawls sarcastically.

"But question four—"

"From what I've read from your other classmates, you at least had an honest and well thought-out answer. It has also a rather droll side to it that the others have failed to attain."

"So you're not mad?"

"About you hypothetically using Veritaserum on me and interrogating me? No. I'm not mad."

"Shouldn't you be upset, though?"

"Nothing you asked, Harry, needs me to answer with the use of Veritaserum. You asked me three questions that I am more than ready to answer right here. For your first question, it is a combination of both. However, I believe it mostly is a result of my brewing potions than genetics."

I nod in reply. After all, what else could I do? I can't believe Snape's willing to answer my questions. As I was writing it, I thought he'd at the very least ground me.

"In response to your second question, I have given much thought to it. However, the opportunity has yet to show itself. I have given it thought, though, and I would like nothing more than to."

I grin then as I briefly glance at Professor Sinistra. She doesn't seem to have caught what we're talking about yet. However, Snape is being deliberately sneaky about his answers.

"For your last question, you were right in the answer. You already know what I think of you, Harry. However, I will humor you yet again. I think you to be an intelligent young man when you apply yourself. You are also an excellent flier, which you've inherited from your father. You are extremely kind to others, which as you know is a trait your mother had. You are an accomplished duelist. You are also a bit of a troublemaker, but you mean well when you break the rules for the most part. You love fiercely and try to find good in everyone. You are not as horrid in Potions as you think you are. You are a bit of a schemer, which will always get you into trouble with me. You are a young man who has gone through hell, but has faced the adversity and overcome it through the help of your friends, something that I myself could not do." Snape then inhales deeply. "You embody the best parts of your parents. And I would be a fool if I said that I do not feel certain feelings towards you as if you were my own son."

Snape then glances towards Professor Sinistra. I don't know how to describe it, but I'm certain that they were talking through their link. I then watch Professor Sinistra walk over to a desk in the far corner before coming back with a parchment. She hands it to Snape and glances at me with a smile.

"It is for that reason that I have requested this." Quietly, he hands it for me to read. My mouth drops at the first word 'Adoption.' "The choice is yours ultimately, but I would like a chance to further this familial relationship we've seem to have developed." I stare back at him, unable to speak. "Well…?"