Snape had told Harry that Remus and Tonks would be meeting him in the Great Hall.

And yet as Harry left the Hospital Wing shortly after, he wondered if the entire school already knew of the fact because the other houses (Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin) were glancing wide-eyed at the Gryffindor table and whispering amongst themselves.

'Ah, there he is!' Tonks waved to Harry from where she sat amongst the students across from an embarrassed Remus. 'Wotcher, Harry.'

'Er, hi Tonks.' Harry sat beside her and glanced at Remus, suppressing a snort of laughter at the sight of them. 'I bet this is just like old times, eh?'

'Not really.' Remus said. 'Last time I was a student and there was nothing weird about sitting here. I feel like I should be dressed in a uniform or something...it's very disorientating.'

'And I sat over there.' Tonks smiled at the Hufflepuffs proudly, most which returned the gesture. 'And only like...how many years ago? Just before you started here, Harry. Rotten luck that.'

'Why are you here?' Harry asked curiously as he nibbled on a roll. 'Wouldn't it be easier to just meet me somewhere rather than going through this?'

'Obviously not.' Remus frowned at Tonks, who didn't appear to have heard Harry while she looked around the hall searchingly.

'Where's that cousin of mine?' Tonks looked at the Slytherins and smirked at the blonde head that seemed very fixated on his plate. 'Ah, there...do you think I should sit next him for good measure?' She chuckled.

'Who?' Harry followed her gaze. 'Malfoy?'

'Yeah, my mother is his mother's sister.' Tonks said slowly as though it was confusing her to work it out.

'Anyway.' Remus sighed. 'We can't really talk in the Great Hall, it's too crowded, but Dora insisted on waiting for you here.' He rolled his eyes. 'We have a little time so eat up and we'll talk after.'

As Harry hurriedly and awkwardly ate, he watched Tonks get up from the seat and march over to sit beside Draco, who looked horrified and squeamish by the action. Remus simply conversed with some of the other Gryffindors, looking more at home there than he had a moment earlier. It was sad though, to think that this was exactly the sort of thing that Sirius would loved to have done.

Harry claimed he was full once his appetite vanished and he felt a little queasy at the thought of his godfather.

'What do you think Professor Snape would do if I were to cause a colourful scene?' Tonks wondered aloud as the group of three left the hall. 'I still have some of the Weasley's fireworks and rainbow smokebombs. Genius that.'

'Dora, please.' Remus sighed, though he couldn't quite conceal his expression of curiosity from Harry, who found it all to be really funny.

'I expect he'd try to put you in detention.' Harry answered, recalling that Tonks had been a student under Snape as well. 'How did you survive seven years here? You're crazy!' He laughed, thinking about how she'd dare to cause such a scene under Snape's nose.

'I'm marrying a Marauder, aren't I?' Tonks smiled and quickly turned to glare at a suit of armour that had “tried to trip her”. Harry just realised where they were headed and found it so ironic. Stepping into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry turned quickly and stared at the pair.

'You're engaged?' He grinned. 'Congratulations!'

'Yes, well...thank you.' Remus blushed. 'We actually hoped you'd be the best man in place of...' He frowned and lowered his gaze.

'Instead of Sirius.' Harry exhaled as he realised what Remus meant to say. 'And yeah, sure...I'd love to!' He tried to offer them a smile.

'Brilliant!' Tonks grinned. 'Though, we do need to talk to you about something.' She said a little more seriously while Remus spelled a few privacy charms.

'Has this got anything to do with the war?' Harry asked hopefully.

'What do you know?' Remus asked.

'Nothing!' Harry exclaimed. 'Dumbledore won't tell me anything anymore, he just talks in stupid riddles. He's working on something with Snape but doesn't want me to have anything to do with it. I'm the one who has to go up against Voldemort! I'm the one who apparently has to kill him!'

Tonks and Remus looked surprised by Dumbledore's lack of guidance and instruction as the headmaster often implied otherwise during meetings.

'There is going to be a war.' Tonks revealed. 'Dumbledore thinks it'll happen by August.'

'Dora...' Remus seemed conflicted by giving Harry the details that Dumbledore clearly wasn't.

'What's the Order doing about it?' Harry continued and stared at Tonks as he ignored Remus. 'How can we stop it?'

'It's inevitable.' Tonks shook her head. 'But things are going good...better than before, anyway.'

Harry wasn't sure what to think of that and had hoped that a war could be avoided. He watched the pair for a moment and realised that Remus hadn't entirely wanted to tell him about those details, therefore they had come to tell him something else.

'What did you want to tell me?' Harry wondered.

'Before he...died.' Tonks said. 'Sirius told us something...something about you.'

'What did he say?' Harry sucked in a breath and held it, not believing his luck that he might finally know what Sirius had said about him and his father. Exhaling quickly, he stared between them and eagerly waited an answer.

'He said...' Tonks hesitated and glanced towards the door, expecting Snape to come swooping in and shouting. 'Sirius said he didn't like you staying with those muggles and that in an incident in which something happened to him then you should be with someone who cares about you.' She said quickly.

'Like who?' Harry asked and frowned as he knew there was a load more to what Sirius had said than just that.

'We don't know exactly.' Remus said. 'But I know you've been curious and it has to stop, just until this war is over.' He said sternly and lectured all his reasons as to why he thought so, which Harry could only half agree to as he listened reluctantly.

-- 

And the next time Harry returned to that classroom was a few days later when he was only just late for Defence.

Draco had ended up in the Hospital Wing the morning of Tonks and Remus's visit and Harry vaguely wondered if Tonks had done something, though she insisted she hadn't when he wrote to her that afternoon.

He and Draco would be meeting in the Room of Requirement that night just after dinner; no exceptions, as Harry had said when he dropped by the ward to make sure the Slytherin knew so. This was why he was flustered and red faced from running as he skidded into the candlelit classroom and hurried to sit between Ron and Hermione.

'Late, Mr Potter?' Snape's tone was harsh as he watched the teenager take his seat. 'Ten points from Gryffindor.'

Harry had been expecting that, thought he glared all the same, as he began to get out his books and roll of homework about Dementors, which soon hovered over to join the others in a pile on Snape's desk. Unlike times in the past, Harry wasn't at all worried as he felt confident in his ability to write that essay in the way he hoped Snape had been looking for.

Snape began talking again but Harry only looked over when Seamus seemed brave enough to raise his hand and ask a question.

'Sir,' Seamus said while the class turned to look at him. 'I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the Prophet about an Inferius-'

'No, there wasn't.' Harry winced as he heard those words leave his mouth before he had the chance to let Snape say them. Attempting to recover, he quickly acted as though it was an open discussion, trying to ignore the glare sent his way by their professor.

'I read that article too, but it was just a sneak-thief pretending to be one.' He said, remembering Mundungus Fletcher's arrest with a short hint of amusement, and relief that Kreacher had gotten the locket from him in time.

'Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject.'Snape's gaze fixated on Harry. 'Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between a Inferius and a ghost.'

'Er-' Harry swallowed nervously as he desperately tried to come up with something plausible to answer with. 'I-I don't really know that much, only what the article had said about them.' He confessed as his cheek felt hot. 'And that – well – ghosts are transparent-'

'Oh, very good,' Snape's expression formed a smirk as he interrupted. 'Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent.'

As the lesson continued with Harry and Snape exchanging words as they used to, and then Ron costing house points by insisting that Harry's explanation made more sense, they proceeded to read about the Cruciatus Curse in their textbooks.

Flipping to page 213, Harry read the first two paragraphs quickly before his gaze and interest wandered around the room. He felt a flush of embarrassment though he didn't know where it came from. Thinking for a moment, Harry felt it was a bit distant, as though it hadn't been his own reaction but someone else's. Watching Hannah Abbott quickly retrieving a quill to his left with a blush on his cheeks, Harry remembered his supposed newfound talents and decided to try it out.

What motivated him to do this during one of Snape's lessons was lost on him.

He didn't dare try the Ligilimency spell in class and so tried a few brief methods he'd read in the library book he'd been given by his “nana” earlier. In the course of twenty minutes, Harry had discreetly managed to make eye contact with Neville, Dean, Seamus, Susan, Theodore, Blaise, Millicent, and a Ravenclaw whose name he couldn't remember. He'd caught brief memories of (in no particular order): a runaway rabbit, a birthday party with a massive cake, horses running through a field, a train in France, a pond filled with large frogs, the streets of London, a frothing cauldron, a bloody arm, a large muggle courtroom, a cemetery, a colourful magical clothing store, Saint Mungo's, and an expansive yard filled with the shadows of a huge mansion. A very familiar mansion, though he was unable to place it.

'Ahh!' Harry clutched his forehead as a sharp pain coursed through his mind, not from his scar by from his head in general. He hadn't know that using this skills so much all at once would have such painful consequences.

Opening his eyes, he saw Snape and the class looking at him with puzzlement. This time the embarrassment was his own. 'Er, sorry...headache.' He muttered and quickly returned to his work.

-- 

When the bell rang at the end of the lesson, Harry took his time putting his things away and waited until the others had mostly left before he even stood and dismissed his friends with a short wave. Snape was glaring at him suspiciously and Harry had a bad feeling that the man knew what he had been doing.

'Sir, I wondered if I might ask you something?' Harry lifted his chin and tried to appear brave or calm, though he felt neither.

'I dare say it is a subject in which has zero relation to the Cruciatus Curse, Potter?' Snape's scowl confirmed Harry's fears. The man knew what he had been doing and was not pleased.

'Er-right, yeah.' Harry nodded. 'I just saw a few memories though, then it made my head hurt...why is that?'

'If one were to lift a heavy load with no use of magic, naturally one's muscles will take the strain.' Severus said in a bored tone. 'The mind operates in a similar manner.'

'So...it's a lot effort?' Harry assumed. 'But will it get stronger if I keep practising and learn to focus it better? I don't really want to read minds, but if this will help me guard against it...'

'That is understandable. However, be cautious in your endeavours as much like any muscle, it can become over-worked and the consequences may be dire.'

'Yeah, I get it now.' Harry nodded and grasped his bag. 'Oh, and sir...c-could my mother do this too? Dumbledore said I inherited it.'

'No.' Severus said slowly. 'Lily lacked the patience in which to even attempt such a powerful branch of magic in which she deemed no use for.'

'Oh.' Harry frowned. 'But...then where did I get it from?'

'No idea.' Severus answered. 'If that is all, however...class as been dismissed, Potter. So-get-out!'

Glaring at his professor, Harry turned and stormed from the classroom. In his haste he almost collided with someone he hadn't expected to see again so soon.

'Tonks!' Harry gasped with alarm and quickly stepped back, only just preventing their collision with his Seeker reflexes. 'What are you doing here?'

'I came to see Dumbledore.' Tonks answered with a shrug and glanced towards the classroom with amusement. 'Just had a lesson with Professor Snape, eh?'

'Yeah.' Harry cracked a small smile. 'And Dumbledore's office isn't here, it's round the other side of the castle, behind the gargoyle-'

'I know.' Tonks rolled her eyes. 'I have been there many times before, you know. But he's not there right now, went off someplace again, though I wish I knew where.' She sighed.

'What did you want to see him about?'

'Oh, nothing that can't wait.' Tonks dismissed it with a wave of her hand, which he noticed was holding her wand. 'Well, I better get going. I'll see you around, Harry.'

'Wait!' Harry said hurriedly as they now stood inches from the open Defence classroom door where Snape was still inside, though that fact was lost on them at that particular moment.

'Is everything alright?' Tonks frowned at his anxious expression.

'I need to know – did Sirius say anything about my dad...not being my dad?' Harry swallowed, not sure if he wanted to know. He could have sworn he'd heard something like an ink bottle clattering to the floor nearby but failed to properly acknowledge it.

Tonks stared at Harry for a seemingly long moment until the corridor was empty and the classroom once again silent. Offering him a small smile, she shrugged her shoulders and turned her wand in her hand as she answered.

'Remus said you were asking questions like this.' Tonks nodded. 'I'm not surprised at all, really, given how much you look like Snape these days and people are probably talking about that too.'

'Yeah, it's bloody annoying.'

'Well, because you look like Snape and people are agreeing with such, and given things you've seen or heard...I'd have begun to worry as well.' Tonks chuckled. 'Though you're handling it better than I would, to be frank. Is there any truth in it? Maybe. But two people can look so alike yet not be related at all, whereas complete strangers passing on the street could be sworn as twins.' She reasoned.

'That doesn't help me at all.' Harry grumbled.

'No, I don't suppose it would!' Tonks laughed.

'But think about it...all you've got to go by is that you look like Snape and people are whispering things about your dad. Given that you know how Snape and your mum used to be best friends as well. You can't doubt your parents just because of something like that, you need real reason and evidence. James Potter, your dad or not, gave his life for you and loved you as his son. Either you're worrying about nothing because of a few bits of gossip or you're really onto something but there's still more to the story then just that.'

'What are you saying?' Harry frowned, trying to figure it out and realising that Tonks did have a point. 'Should I find out more?'

'My advice?' Tonks smiled. 'Forget about it. That doesn't sound simple, does it? But while you're guessing and trying to find something that may not exist, you could be straying from the path further. If it's true that James isn't your dad after all, then someone will likely tell you when the time is right.'

'But-'

'I know, people don't tell you much these days.' Tonks nodded. 'But the likes of Dumbledore don't just keep secrets for the sake of it, they have miles of reasons and research that revolve around every plan. If someone is keeping something like this from you when you have every right to know...you can bet your best galleon that it's a damn good reason.'

'You're right.' Harry sighed heavily. 'Thanks...you're absolutely right.'

'Remind Remus that next time you seen him.' Tonks joked. 'I think being a professor for a year really got to his head. Anyway, I better be going now. Later!'

'Yeah, bye.' Harry sighed and glanced one last time towards the classroom before he turned and walked along the corridor in the opposite direction that Tonks had gone.

Unnoticed by the pair, Severus Snape stood behind the ajar door and also realised that the logic of the former Hufflepuff was in no way flawed. They had a war to deal with now and everything had it's due time.

'Well?' Harry asked as he looked across the cluttered room to where Draco stood by the doorway to the Room of Requirement. 'What happened to you, anyway? You were in the Hospital Wing for days.'

'Why do you care?' Draco glared as he crossed the room and stood several feet from Harry and tugged at his Slytherin tie nervously.

Harry was amused by the question as he had asked Draco the same thing several times before. Yet he gave no real answer, just as Draco hadn't, though Harry wouldn't admit that it was because he couldn't think of one. Why did he care? Or was he simply curious? Yeah, that had to be it. His mood turned more serious as he watched Draco pace and fidget, starting to worry himself as it was clear that the Slytherin was having a mental struggle about their agreement, even if the Vow prevented him from backing out of it.

'Malfoy?' Harry asked but received no indication of being heard. 'Draco? What's the matter with you?'

'Nothing!' Draco snapped angrily and turned to sink into a chair, hanging his head in a manner that reminded Harry of Snape that day in the Hospital Wing. Draco looked just as tired, yet further stressed and if Harry would admit it...the Slytherin almost looked scared.

'I shouldn't be doing this.' Draco rambled as his gaze focused on the floor. 'I could be killed. My family...' He swallowed. 'It was a mistake to make the vow.'

'You can't back out of it now.' Harry urged.

'I know that!' Draco growled and glared at Harry. 'But don't you understand? In telling you this...you have no idea, Potter! You don't know what it's like. What he's like...'

'Who, Voldemort?' Harry felt confused and ignored Draco's flinch at the name. 'I've seen him. I've fought him! I know how vile he can be.'

'To his enemies.' Draco stood and faced Harry. 'You know how he is to his enemies.'

Draco hadn't said many details, but somehow that sentence silenced Harry and a wave of sympathy washed over him. Draco was on the opposite side of the playing field; his parents were Death Eaters fighting for Voldemort's dark cause, yet Draco was not branded and therefore Harry wondered if his classmate was instead torn in the middle rather than one either side. Here he was, about to help Harry by giving him information that could get his family killed.

'If that's the risk, why did you want to tell me this stuff anyway?' Harry spoke. 'I may not like your lot, but even I can see that family means more than just a name to you.' He'd never have imagined that as cruel that the Malfoys seemed, they were very family people who stood by each other. If anything, their protection of their own was more evident than their dislike of impure blood.

Harry could see that now, in Draco.

'My family is everything to me.' Draco whispered and then frowned at Harry. 'Don't ever doubt that, Potter! And it's none of your business as to why I'm helping you, I just am! Look, I'll tell you everything like I promised but you have to swear not to tell ANYONE that it came from me!'

Harry lowered his gaze and thought about how much he had told Ron and Hermione lately, which was his realisation that he hadn't said much, really. They didn't know that Toby was Snape's son, or who Irma Prince really was, they didn't know about his meetings and agreement with Draco, nor his suspicions about being related to Snape. They were still his best friends, but when something seemed different with Harry, a lot of other things changed as well. So when Draco asked him not to share his source of information, Harry found it to be an easy enough thing to agree upon.

'I won't tell.' Harry promised. 'I know the danger you're in if I do. I may not like you, Malfoy, but I don't hate you.'

'You should.' Draco said. 'We'll never be friends, Potter. Never.'

'No, we won't.' Harry shrugged. 'But that doesn't mean we have to be enemies. Now tell me what you know.'

And so Draco did. He sank into the nearest chair, his blonde hair a mess and his tie loosened, as he stared at the floor with a stricken expression that showed stress and dread, yet he told Harry what he knew. He mentioned vague plans and hinted theories, yet with everything...there was one thing the Slytherin said that stuck with Harry several hours later as he lay in bed and tried to sleep.

--

'You're good with potions now, right?' Draco asked as he handed over a strip of parchment with magically disguised handwriting, likely in case it was read by someone else and yet they wouldn't be able to trace it back to him.

'I guess.' Harry replied. 'Why?' He asked and accepted the parchment, preparing to leave as Draco appeared to have told him all he could.

'Nagini...the Dark Lord's snake...' Draco extracted a stoppered vial carefully from his robes and handed it to Harry. 'This is some of its venom. That's a possible antidote.' He pointed to the parchment he had handed Harry. 'I don't know if it will work but...I think you should brew it.'

'Why?' Harry frowned as it was a rather specific request. He didn't dare to ask how Draco had gotten a sample of the snake's venom.

'Just...tell me you'll try?' Draco scowled. 'If you can brew it...keep the antidote with you, alright?' He paused and ran a hand through his hair as he seemed hesitant to remain there any longer.

'I don't understand...' Harry frowned as he glanced from either hand – from the parchment to the dangerous vial. Yet as he glanced up, he barely had time to see Draco leaving the room...

--

Harry, without his glasses on his face, glanced sideways to where the parchment rested beside his bed. He had read over it a moment earlier and knew it was a complex potion to brew, yet it was determined to do so. No matter his distrust of Draco in the past, the fact that the Slytherin was risking his life and his family for Harry's increased chances of surviving the war...it brought about a further lack of dislike towards his former-enemy.

Draco didn't seem as bad as Harry had assumed, and he knew that the need for the antidote was urgent. He would attempt to brew it at the first chance he got.

The following day did not give Harry the chance to even read over the instructions for the antidote. That morning he took Toby outside to get some fresh air (Toby was concealed under the invisibility cloak) ,as they walked across the grounds to visit Hagrid. Reaching the hut, yet not hearing Fang's barks, Harry suspected that something was wrong. Toby, unaware of such, started knocking invisibly on the door, anxious to get inside as it looked like it was going to rain.

'Why isn't Hagrid answering?' Toby asked. 'Do you think he's busy?'

'No.' Harry walked a short distance away, having an instinctual urge to look around. He headed towards a sloped hill and looked down towards a section that led to the forest.

Not far away, yet out of hearing range, he spotted Hagrid and Fang looked at what appeared to be a dead spider. Realisation and dreading filling him, Harry nudged Toby and the pair walked to approach their half-giant friend who was grieving the death of his eight-legged friend, Aragog. Harry found it hard to feel at all sad about the passing of the thing that had once tried to kill he and Ron, however he sympathised with Hagrid and tried to offer support where he could.

Hagrid was tearful yet glad that they had come by. Harry was surprised Hagrid hadn't written to tell him about the death of Aragog but didn't dwell on it as he cautiously looked around when Toby removed the cloak to pay respects to the scary spider.

'What happened?' Toby questioned as he had heard a few stories from Hagrid about Aragog and was sad for the half-giant for his loss.

Harry didn't listen as he tuned out of the situation and Toby's approach to the spider to say goodbye. He smiled briefly at his brother's kindness, but otherwise he remained rather detached. Draco's words were still on his mind, as well as the antidote and the upcoming war. He glanced towards the darkening sky and worried, because the clouds seemed a little odd to him, not like rain clouds yet something darker. He had no reason to think that, yet Harry had a prickling sensation that he should be focused on more important things than a dead spider, regardless of how much Aragog had meant to Hagrid.

Yet, Harry quietly remained where he was for another twenty minutes before he followed Hagrid and Fang back to the hut. Making an excuse, he left Toby there without the cloak and headed back to the castle after instructing Dobby to stay with Toby for a few more minutes and then return the boy to their dormitory.

Harry entered the dungeons moments late and spotted Snape entering his office. The door was left partially ajar and Harry wouldn't have bothered to notice that had he not heard a sound of breaking jars from within the room. Hesitating, in case the Professor was in a horribly angered mood, yet unable to resist, Harry stepped forward cautiously and peered into the office.

He saw Snape sitting at his desk with his hands in his hair as he bent over a pile of ignored parchment.

Surprised that Snape hadn't noticed him, Harry watched as the man placed the silver cauldron on his desk and stared at it, almost as though he expected it to do something. Snape closed his eyes and winced, giving the impression that he was exhausted and in pain, much like that day in the Hospital Wing, which seemed to be in Harry's mind a lot lately.

Deciding not to disturb the man, Harry turned and left the dungeons and towards the Grand Staircase.

Arriving at the common room, he moved to sit by the fireplace and pondered on what he had just seen. Reaching into his pocket, Harry lifted out a photograph of his parents and stared emotionally at their faces. He smiled at Lily and then turned his attention to James. With a sigh, he pocketed it again and stared into the fire, remembering when he had spoken to Sirius there a year ago.

He could really use his parents or Sirius's guidance right now. He wished they were with him, giving him clues as to what he should do about many things, such as the war, Toby, Draco, and even Snape. Seeing Snape behaving so human was unsettling as even Harry had envisioned him to be beyond that of normal wizards in strength as well as unfairness. Mostly, though his views of the man had changed dramatically in mere months. He considered going to see Madam Pince or owl'ing Remus, yet Harry did neither.

Instead, he returned to his dormitory to put the photograph of his parents back into the album and then reached for the parchment he shared with Snape.

I don't know what to do, sir. I'm lost and I know a war is coming. How will I know what to do when it matters most? How do you make the choices that you do? What if I do something wrong and more people die? 

I know you're busy and I'm really sorry for intruding...but I feel so alone, even with my friends and family around me. I just need someone to tell me how to know which choice are the ones I should make. I wish, now more than ever, that I had a father or someone to guide me.

I feel the darkness pressing in and I'm scared that when the war comes...I'll let everyone down.

Harry didn't know why he confided in Snape, but he had no one else and surely the Professor would understand on some level? Leaning back on his bed, Harry did not expect his words to vanish and for new ones to appear in their place so soon.

Frowning, he sat upright and inched the parchment closer as he saw Snape's reply writing itself onto the paper.

When the time comes...trust your instincts. And never give in. The moment you give in...you've already lost. Let the will to survive and protect those close to you to fill you inside whenever you doubt yourself. Do that and your way forward is clear. 

You're not alone.

It was a simple enough answer yet Harry read it over at least five times. A burdening sensation in his stomach faded a little as he felt a tiny bit at ease. Snape was right, of course, and his words made sense to Harry though he would never had thought of them on his own.

He wondered if Snape followed his own advice but also wondered if Snape still had that will to survive and protect. It worried him, because of what he had seen moments earlier in the dungeons. Suddenly, Harry didn't want Snape to die. He knew the man would be involved in the war and he knew the danger of being in Voldemort's ranks, yet for the first time Harry worried for Snape.

Truly worried; almost as though he was scared of losing his once-loathed Professor.

I will, if you promise to do the same. 

You're not alone either, sir.