At Hogwarts

Dumbledore stood in front of his window facing the grounds of Hogwarts. He had sent off the 4th year class to study abroad in America while the Triwizard Tournament was being held at the castle. He had heard too many rumors from his spies that stated that Voldemort was going to attempt to use the tournament for his own gain. Dumbledore smiled. Harry would be safe in the Americas and they would of course treat him properly, as surely they knew how much was resting upon the boy. They might not have been involved in the last war, but Dumbledore was sure that they understood why the child was so important.

'It helps that Severus is there,' Dumbledore thought with a small smile. 'His unwillingness to tell the boy his past and his dislike of the reminder of James will continue to fuel the boy's hatred towards everything dark and Slytherin.'

HJP/STS/HJP/STS

Harry stood in front of the American professor.

"What is this? Did you wait to the last minute Harry to write out this assignment?"

"No, of course not. I just had to finish it before quidditch practice."

"Do you truly believe that this work is acceptable for you to hand in?" The teacher asked staring hard into Harry's eyes. Honestly, who did this woman think she was, Snape?

"Lay off Pitlusky." Ron called from the desk the left of where Harry was standing. Harry was just clenching his fists in anger at being called out in front of the class for not being overly meticulous with his work. So what if it wasn't perfect? Potions were not something that he was good at in school.

'Anyways, doesn't she realize that none of this stuff will be important anyways? It's not like I'm going to need it in the real world anyways. Plus, its not like I'm going to get into Snape's NEWT class anyways… or that I even want to!'

"The name is Miss Pitluski, Ron."

"Whatever. It's not like you really have any power over us anyways being that we're exchange students."

The woman smiled tightly as she turned her attention from Harry to Ron. 'Ron, you are an idiot.'

"Congratulations Mr. Weasley, you have just won yourself a demerit, detention and a trip down to the principal's office in one go due to your attitude. Congratulations. This school hasn't seem someone accomplish that feat since the 1960s." The teacher's voice was both cold and hard.

'Really, does she think that really matters? It's not like the principle has any real power over us. He has to bow to Dumbledore's will in the end.'

"You can't do that! No one from Hogwarts gets sent to the Headmaster's office for being cheeky in class!"

The teacher leaned over Ron's desk, "Welcome to the United States, Ron. Now get outof my classroom."

"He doesn't have to go anywhere! He didn't do anything wrong!" Harry protested. This woman was as nasty as Severus Snape. It was bad enough Dumbledore sent the git with them to the US to study abroad, but now there was a teacher who fancied taking up his mantle as Gryffindor hater!

Ron had stood up but had remained standing to the side of his friend.

"You seem to have misheard me, Mr. Weasley if you believe that my former command was a request." The teacher stated as she moved to the front of the class, passing her students, as well as the students from Hogwarts houses. The American students chuckled at the idiocy of the British "Boy-who-failed," as did the Slytherins, a few Hufflepuffs and some Ravenclaws. Really even a blind, mute, deaf and lame person would know to avoid the Midwest Magical Institutes teachers when they were angry.

"Silence." The female teacher uttered in a soft voice without even looking up from her paper work to glance at the class. "Unless the rest of you would like to join Mr. Weasley, who is leaving this instant, down at the principal's office with a fresh pink demerit in their hands, I highly suggest you become quiet quickly."

Ron finally left the room after glancing at Harry and giving him a smirk. They both knew nothing would happen to them since the teacher was clearly in the wrong.

Still Harry could not help stating his case. "That's not fair profess…. Ma'am. Ron was just trying to defend me." Harry had received a hard look from the teacher reminding him that teachers over in the US did not use the title of Professor.

'It shows that they aren't as highly respected or educated.' Harry though with an air of superiority.

"Harry I did not realize that you were a damsel in distress in need of a knight to save your honor when all you needed to do was inform your instructor as to the reason why you have not completed your assigned work." The teacher said with a hard look before turning back to the work on the board. "I figure at the age of fourteen a student would be able to defend his own actions, Harry."

Harry sputtered at being call 'a damsel in distress.' This teacher had no right to talk to him that way, all because he didn't do his homework. So what tons of kids at Hogwarts didn't do their homework. What this woman was doing had to be a firing offense!

"That's what friends and Gryffindors do…. Ma'am." He practically had to force himself to spit out that last bit, before he continued speaking. "Of course you wouldn't understand that being as how you cannot possibly understand the idea of loyalty."

Pitluski turned around very slowly and Harry got the feeling that he had said something he shouldn't have. 'But it doesn't matter, because I'm right! This git of a woman probably doesn't have a single friend. I know Sirius would be proud of me for standing up to her!'

"You are out of line Mr. Potter and seriously misconstruing the facts." The teacher replied in a soft but deadly voice.

Harry stuck up his chin defiantly, "And what facts would those be Pitluski."

"One. You seem to be under the impression that you are still at Hogwarts. You are incorrect. None of the teachers here could care less what house you were in nor what inter-house wars you might be engaged in." She stated very quietly and Harry wondered if she was trying to keep her temper or make it appear like she cared.

'Yeah, right. Probably a Slytherin lover and a dark witch.'

She turned towards the rest of the class and gave them all a hard look. "Your houses mean nothing to us."

'Obviously she doesn't know much about life.'

"Two, which seems to correlate with one. You seem to believe that you will receive some special treatment because you keep mentioning that you are a Gryffindor. I have no clue what you think this is supposed to mean to me, but rest assured you will not be receiving any special treatment from any of the teachers. Neither will you be allowed to get away with this atrocious work that you seem to believe is worthy of being graded." The teacher's gaze had returned back to Harry. "I believe all the teachers and I made this clear when your classmates, your potions professor, and you arrived back in June."

"You seem to be under the impression that I use my title as 'Boy-who-Lived' to get favors from teachers." Harry bit back at his teacher.

"Three. You seem to believe that all quarrels or issues that the teachers of this institution have with you have roots with the fact that we resent your status in the British world. I hate to inform you of this Mr. Potter, since you have been too blinded by quidditch to realize this sooner, but no one in the US believes in that title. To all of us you are just a normal child whom the British wizarding society has foisted too much responsibility upon. " Harry opened his mouth to argue back, when the teacher raised her hand. "You will let me finish."

Harry watched as the teacher took a steadying breath. That was her weakness, she was close to losing her temper. Once he got her to lose that….

"You are merely another student here, who is subject to the same punishments and expectations as any of our other students. Only you appear to believe that you can skive on your potions homework and be passed along."

"That's unfair and not true!" Harry drew himself up to his full height, granted at 160.2 cm (5'5") Harry was not that tall for a boy of 14.

"Sit down now, Harry Potter." There was steel in the command. But it was a command that Harry intended to ignore, but the woman pressed on. "You will be staying after class as I will be escorting you down to the principal's office…"

"No." Harry said staring the teacher down. "I have practice after school."

"That remains to be seen Mr. Potter." Pitluski said as her eyes bored into Harry's.

Harry felt his jaw go slack and he stumbled backwards a little. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sit down now Mr. Potter. I will not tell you again." Miss Pitluski said as she turned back to the board once more. "Everyone turn your lab books to page 35."

Harry felt as if a steel rod had been shoved up his spine and like the pit of his stomach had dropped out. "No, I won't sit down. Now what in the hell do you mean?"

Harry could feel the eyes of his housemates, the other houses' students and the American students upon him, but he didn't care. What could the teacher possibly mean by that?

"Language Mr. Potter." The teacher stated as she turned back toward him. Her voice was not cold but it was firm and Harry felt as if he had been dropped into another world, like that girl from the book with the looking glass. "You will go to the lecture room now Mr. Potter. I will address you after I have gotten the rest of the class settled."

Still shocked by his teacher's lack of losing temper and her words, Harry complied.

HJP/STS/HJP/STS

Not much later, a yell could be heard throughout the school.

"What do you mean I am suspended from quidditch!" Came a rather high pitched boy's voice.

All the students realized it came from the principal's office. The American students went about their day as the Brits reacted to the shout. Really they should have realized that none of them would be getting special treatment 'on this side of the pond.'

STS/HJP/STS/HJP

"What do you mean I am suspended from quidditch!" Potter almost screamed at the top of his lungs. "You can't do that! You have no right to do that!"

Severus watched as the boy made a fool out of himself in the principal's office. He had only suspected it would be a matter of time before the brat was sent down here. The Americans, despite what other's deemed to be poor scores, were strong advocates in their private schools of children meeting the standards set before them. Potter had been coasting by for months now, believing that his ability to play quidditch would be unaffected.

"It is well within our rights to do so Mr. Potter. If you had read the agreement you had signed at the start of the June quarter you would have realized how seriously this school takes its students performing to the best of their abilities."

"I am doing the best that I can!" Potter exclaimed.

Severus could not help snorting at that. "Please Potter, all you do is play quidditch as soon as you get home. Your housemother has reported to school and I frequently that while you have the potential to do much better, you are too caught up with that game and pranking to even attempt to do your homework."

Potter glared at him and Severus mentally checked off another point in his head. It was so easy to rile the boy up.

'Too much Potter blood and not enough of Lily.'

'You seem to forget Severus, Lily had an Irish temper just as fiery.'

'Lily also wasn't an idiot and knew to do her homework.'

'True.'

Refocusing on the conversation, Severus realized how lucky the boy was that they were merely suspending his quidditch privileges. He could be like Weasley and be deported with a recommendation for a grade retention on his permanent record at the least and the chance of having his wand snapped.

STS/HJP/STS/HJP

"I see that the American have not fallen prey to your reputation, Potter." Severus said with some malice as they walked out to the lobby to wait to hear the principal's ruling about the conditions Potter would be under in order for him not to lose his wand.

The potion master watched as the boy's entire body stiffened and seemed to bristle. "I don't use my reputation to get by in my classes. Unlike your precious Slytherins."

"No you merely settle for copying Miss. Granger's essays and when that fails you turn in slipshod work." Severus said almost biting out the words. The boy was absolutely infuriating! "As for my Slytherins, they do not use any reputation to get by, either here nor at Hogwarts. They work hard to get their grades and actually attend tutoring when it is offered."

That was slightly a lie. It is more like they are forced to go to tutoring, but that was beside the point. The brat did not even have the ambition to do well in class!

"I do not and you are a bloody favoring git! Of course your Slytherins get by on reputation. Malfoy practically brags that he can get you to have any of the teachers change his grades!"

"Not that it is any concern to you Mr. Potter, but Mr. Malfoy only gets those grades changed after he does extra credit work, receives tutoring, or studies harder. " Severus said with an all out sneer. "You on the other hand just laze around Gryffindor tower playing chess and pranking with the rest of the idiot Gryffindors."

"I do not and I work hard on my school work."

"Perhaps we should have you tested for a learning disability than Potter. How else might you explain that pitiful mess you called homework for the past 4 years?"

"That… that teacher and you are against me. No one else has any complaints about me!" Severus knew he was getting to the spoiled brat now. It was rare that he could get the brat to stutter anymore.

"Really Potter? Apparently you have taken to not listening to the same discussion I was for the past hour and a half. If you had, you would have realized you are not performing to the standard in any of your classes. All the teachers here believe that you have been turning in substandard work." Severus wondered if the boy was just an idiot or he had been dropped on his head as an infant.

'If he had been, Potter Senior is probably to blame.'

Severus watched as the boy struggled to compose a retort for a minute or two. He could tell when the boy had gotten one because he stood up straighter and raised his chin defiantly once more. "Dumbledore won't let the ban stand."

'Lily, be glad that your child has not been invited to any of the poker games I have seen around the building after school. He would have lost everything you earned and saved for him within 2 minutes of entering the game.'

Severus' eyes looked directly into Harry's. "Perhaps you need to have this pounded into your miniscule brain Potter, but Dumbledore has no power over the schools here in the States."

There was that defiant look again along with Gryffindor bravo. "Of course he does."

"It seems that you are laboring under the false conception that the United States of American is a member of the British Commonwealth."

"No. I know they are a separate country. But of course Dumbledore has power here. Everyone in the world respects him!"

'Lily, he is as naïve and as sure as you were that everything Dumbledore and later Potter said was the Holy truth.'

"Headmaster Dumbledore has no more power here then the principle of the muggle high school a couple blocks down the road has over the magical population in Georgia, you idiot boy!" Severus practically growled at the boy. And this was the child that would be placed in his care as of…. five minutes ago.

"But I have never had trouble before with any of my teachers and I do the same thing at Hogwarts!" Potter exclaimed, seemingly worked up into a Gryffindor temper tantrum.

"Of course you have Potter, but the other professors took Dumbledore's words to heart and passed you along. The only class you have consistently passed is Defense against the Dark Arts and you have not passed it once in the two terms that you have been here!"

"They teach dark arts. " Potter stated as if it explained everything. "I am not going to study the dark arts."

"I was not aware, Mr. Potter that you were the supreme authority on what should and shouldn't get taught in schools here in the US." A female voice came from behind the Professor and the student.

There standing was the principal of the school, Sarah Tapia, emerges from the office's doorway. She nodded at the Potion Master before continuing. "I apologize for my tardiness, Professor Snape, I was detained filling out Mr. Weasley's paper work."

"Understandable Ms. Tapia. " Severus said with an incline of his head. The Weasley boy was even worse than Harry. He had come over to the States on probation. The Americans had given him a little extra time to turn himself around, giving him probation, but it had all been for not.

'That won't happen with Lily's boy. Even if I have to remove the Potter genes right out of the boy's body!'

"This is unfair Tapia! Ron was right, Pitluski is completely against Gryffindors as Snape is! Why aren't you punishing her?" Severus could practically feel the indignation flowing off of the boy.

"Typical Potter. Always blaming his faults on other." Severus said aloud, as was expected of him. 'That boy will be receiving discipline once we get home!'

"That is enough, Professor Snape." Ms. Tapia replied firmly and Severus had the good grace to be chastised. Potter on the other hand looked elated. At least until the principal set her sights on him. "Normally, my staff and I have no problem with our students… as long as they complete their work on time and to the best of their ability. However, you, as with many students, appear to be incapable performing to standard while having the privilege to play a sport."

"Quidditch is not just a sport…" Harry started only to be cut off by Snape.

"No, I am almost positive that you believe that it is your life, is that not correct Potter?" Severus said with a sneer. He was completely happy that the brat would not be allowed to play the dangerous sport. It would give him more time to do his school work.

"Of course, it is my reward…" The Gryffindor started to say before he caught himself and managed to silence his mouth.

'So he can be taught.'

Ms. Tapia looked the boy over. "Unfortunately for you Mr. Potter it is neither a reward nor a right to play quidditch in this country, but rather a privilege that can be taken away when one does not perform to the best of one's abilities. Especially when one is not even getting C's in his classes."

"You can't stop me from playing quidditch! Dumbledore won't allow it."

"Potter, we discussed this not even five minutes ago!" Severus snapped, causing the boy to turn and glare at him.

"It is alright Professor Snape. Believe me we have had a lot of this from the students of your … what do you call them… that's right, houses at Hogwarts. It seems that the students believe that the US, both magical and non-magical, is bound to the British Isles like all your other former colonies."

HJP/STS/HJP/STS

Harry almost smiled when he saw despair cross through Snape's eyes. 'Probably depressed that someone realizes his precious snakes aren't any good.'

He was so caught up in his thoughts about Snape's snakes being demoralized that he almost missed what Tapia said next.

"I am so glad that you are willing to take him, Professor Snape. It would be a shame if Harry was to be deported without the chance to make amends because he is not meeting the requirements of his visa."

It took Harry a second to realize what was going on before he cried out, "Wait! I'm not going home with Snape! I'm staying with Ron at the Houser's home!"

Snape glared at the boy, but Harry paid him no mind. He had to convince the principal that the evil, greasy git had no right to take him from his current residence.

"It is Professor Snape, Mr. Potter. As for not going with him, you have no real choice in the matter since Professor Dumbledore named him your guardian when you came over to the US since you have no other relatives in the magical world and since it not appropriate in American society for the principal of a school to have that much power over a student."

Harry was getting ready to shout 'Then why in the hell can Snape take me!' when the principal continued on.

"As for Mrs. Houser… she has decided that since Mr. Weasley will be leaving us… due to circumstances of his own making… to withdraw from the boarding program."

Harry heard that something was going on with Ron, but his mind was too wrapped up around the fact that the principal wanted him to stay with Snape.

"No Dumbledore won't allow for this! He wouldn't assign Snape as my guardian! He knows how much he hates me."

Tapia ignored him in favor of turning towards the nasty git and continuing on as if he hadn't even spoken. "He will need to bring his grades up to at least a C by the end of the quarter. You have 8 weeks to have him get those grades up. If he manages to bring them up by the end of the 8 weeks, than he will not be sent back to England to be with his muggle relatives."

Harry decided right then and there that that was his out. The Weasleys would be able to take him in and he would be able to return to Hogwarts.

"Send me back to England! I refuse to go with Snape. Dumbledore will take me back to Hogwarts for the remainder of the year."

The principal just looked over at Harry with a blank look on her face. 'She probably doesn't realize that no one in their right mind would want to face the persecution that her school is inflicting upon me.'

"Mr. Potter." The principal said in a very soft voice. "Do you not realize that if you do not raise your grades soon and quickly that there will be no going back to Hogwarts?"

"Of course I'll go back to Hogwarts! What could possibly stop me."

Harry glanced over at the professor and saw an incredulously look on his face.

"What?" Harry asked.

Snape seemed to snap out of his stupor. "Potter, you didn't read the international agreement you signed when you came here did you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry growled. 'Why does everyone keep bringing this up?'

"Potter. The agreement stated that if your grades fell below a C and you did not make them up within a restricted amount of time, there would be consequences."

"So what, I'll be deported! Anything would be better than this crap!"

"You idiot child." Snape growled and loomed over Harry.

For the first time Harry noticed the papers that the principle had handed Snape. It was the contract he had signed before entering into the exchange program. He looked up at the man generally confused as to what was going on.

Snape's dark eyes bored into Harry's eyes "If you don't pull your grades up, they'll snap your wand."

TBC…..

HJP/STS/HJP/STS

Harry was in shock the entire way to the house where he had been boarding. It was in a suburb outside of the school's main area. He felt numb.

'How could this have happened? How could Dumbledore have betrayed me like this? Does he realize what the git is going to do to me? Doesn't he realize how bloody awful this school is? Always siding with the Slytherins and stating that the Gryffs had to do all the work? And worst yet, all the places the Gryffs were boarding at had enforced bedtimes!' Harry was sure that the Slytherins didn't have bed times!

'Knowing Snape he'll give me a bedtime out of spite!' Harry practically snarled in his head.

Suddenly Harry found himself in front of his boarding house with Snape grasping his arm. Usually Harry just busted through the door, using Alohomora instead of the key he had been given. He would then proceed to throw his stuff down next to Ron's right by the door before charging out to play quidditch in the local park with the other Gryffs.

'But nooooooo. Snape has to knock on the door. Doesn't he realize that the lady who lives here doesn't deserve politeness?' Harry thought bitterly as he waited impatiently for the old witch to open the door. 'Then again, the woman is probably a Slytherin conspirator. Or one of those American ghouls I heard about in Defense class.'

When the door opened and the middle aged witch looked out at them.

"Good day madam." Snape stated in his silky voice, for the first time in Harry's memory sounding polite.

"I was right. Slytherin conspirator.'

"We are here to collect Mr. Potter's trunk and the other personal items that he might have." Snape stated once more.

The woman stared at Snape blankly for a moment before giving Harry a sneer and gesturing them into her home. "Right. Come in Sir. Harry can go collect his stuff."

Harry attempted to burst through the doorway only to have the greasy git grab the back of his jumper.

"You have twenty minutes Potter." Snape stated in a neutral voice that made Harry want to strangle him.

'How dare he tell me what to do!'

However, Harry did have enough self-preservation to run up the stairs and start packing. Looking around, he wondered where all Ron's stuff was and where he was being moved to now that the old witch had decided to get out of the program.

'The positive thing about the old witch no longer participating in the program was that none of the future Gryffs will have to be subjected to ten o'clock bedtimes on weekdays and no sweets before dinner.' Harry thought with a smirk.

Still, as he was cramming all his quidditch magazines into his trunk and packing up all the school books that the school had provided (which Harry couldn't wait to burn after the academic year is over) he wondered where Ron was going. He remembered the principal talking about the youngest Weasley boy briefly but he had been so upset about quidditch and Snape he hadn't paid attention to the information about Ron.

He was sure he'd see Ron at the school the next day. He would have to tell his best friend about all the drama Snape had caused him.

'Probably just wants his snakes to win the intramural games.' Harry thought viciously as he glared at the door. Coincidently he was forgetting that the intramural teams weren't divided up by house but by grade level.

But then again Harry considered most of the students at Northwest Territory High School of Magic to be Slytherins ever since the incident which had occurred to the other Gryffindors, Ron and himself over the summer term. The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Mione, and Neville kept insisting that Gryffindors were overreacting to the situation, but Harry was sure that they just did not realize the severity of the situation.

'That shows them what they know." Harry thought angrily as he threw his Hogwarts robes into the trunk. Harry knew because Sirius and Ron had explained it to him. The other Gryffindors had followed his lead. Well…. At least most of them had.

'If Mione, Neville, and the other two houses would only open their eyes to what…'

"Mr. Potter you better be finished packing in the next five minutes." Came the Potion Master's slow, deep voice.

'Slimy snake. Probably getting his jollies bossing me around.' He threw his last personal item in his trunk and grabbed Hedwig's cage. She was off taking a letter to Sirius. Speaking of Sirius….

'Won't Snape be in for a surprise once I write Sirius! My godfather will know what to do.'

"Coming Snape!" Harry yelled down preparing to leave, only to see set of shoes hiding under what used to be his bed.

Looking over to what had been Ron's side of the room. 'Where is he? Does he know where he is going? Did the school ship him off somewhere with the other Gryffindors? I know he wasn't doing well in class but it's not like they could threaten him with having his wand snapped. Mr. Weasley , Ron told me, looked over the entire contract before allowing Ron to sign.'

Harry felt himself cheer at that assessment. 'Merlin knows he can't be going anywhere worse than where I'm being sent.'

"Mr. Potter." The beast had arrived. When had he snuck up here? "What. Did. I. Tell. You?"

Harry stared at the man sullenly. So what if he had gotten caught up in his thoughts. Harry was sure that the older wizard got caught up his fantasies of torturing Gryffindors. Especially him!

'All because he is jealous of my father and his friends like Sirius said, that slimy git. Never had any friends but Deatheaters. Doesn't he realize anything he does or says pales in comparison to my father and his friends? My godfather should have been free while that Deatheater scum rotted away in Azkaban. What could the Headmaster see in this slimy snake?' Harry thought to himself as he continued to stuff his trunks after glaring defiantly at Snape. 'Sirius told me how the jerk lied his way through school.'

"Contrary to whatever rubbish your dogfather spouted at your naïve head Mr. Potter, your father's entire group of friends and him were barbarians , liars, arrogant toe-rags, and bulled those different from them." He paused for a moment before continuing, "They were particularly fond of picking on first and second years."

"You lie!" Harry shouted. "My father and his friends were good men!"

'How in the hell could he have known what I was thinking?' Harry thought frantically as he attempted to maintain his defiance by staring the man straight in the eye. 'It's not like he can read minds…. And even if he could it probably would be a violation of the British Wizarding code of Conduct.'

However, memories of some of Sirius stories about pranks they had pulled teased at the back of Harry's mind causing him to question if his affirmations were completely correct.

STS/HJP/STS/HJP

Severus had come upstairs to see why the little brat was taking so long packing up his belongings. What he found was the arrogant child day dreaming.

'At least he is mostly packed,' Severus thought sternly. 'That was more than I expected out of him. He has been acting up more and more since the mutt and the werewolf entered his life and he came over here. If I didn't know better I'd say they were trying to make him into a carbon copy of Potter Senior…. Though it's not like the boy isn't one already.'

"Mr. Potter." Severus hissed in his low voice. "What. Did. I. Tell. You."

The boy stared defiantly at him in-between stuffing his trunk with his clothing and other belongings. Severus did not even really have to legilitimize the boy to discover what was running through the brat's head; The Boy-Who-Lived-To-Annoy way practically screaming his thoughts.

'All because he is jealous of my father and his friends like Sirius said, that slimy git. Never had any friends but Deatheaters. Doesn't he realize anything he does or says pales in comparison to my father and his friends? My godfather should have been free while that Deatheater scum rotted away in Azkaban. What could the Headmaster see in this slimy snake?' Potter turned his attention back to stuffing his trunk once more, only glancing up to glare at the older wizard. 'Sirius told me how the jerk lied his way through school.'

Severus categorized what he had 'heard' from Harry's mind.

'Is the boy really that naïve and arrogant? Granted I known that Dumbledore, and even Minerva, seem to encourage this behavior and beliefs that Slytherins are all Deatheaters, but to allow Black to label me as the aggressor? What are they playing at?' Severus puzzled at his thoughts and then began to smirked internally. 'Perhaps I should correct the boy's misconstrued information. Maybe leave some damning evidence of what exactly the Marauders got up to around the apartment. Or perhaps even destroy the "pranksters reputations will Lily herself? Perhaps then the boy would learn that not everything is what it seems.'

First, to set him on the defensive.

"Contrary to whatever rubbish your dogfather spouted at your naïve head Mr. Potter, your father's entire group of friends and him were barbarians , liars, arrogant toe-rags, and bullies of those different from them." Severus stated casually, pausing before adding his last bit. "They were particularly fond of picking on first and second years."

"You lie!" Potter shouted. "My father and his friends were good men!"

'Potter despite all his faults has never picked on a first or second year. One of his nobler traits I have always attributed to Lily.' Severus thought with an internal smirk. 'Now to cause him to question.'

'How in the hell could he have known what I was thinking?' The boy thought frantically as he attempted to maintain his defiance by staring the man straight in the eye. 'It's not like he can read minds…. And even if he could it probably would be a violation of the British Wizarding code of Conduct.'

'Lily, if you only knew how stupid your son was acting at this moment!'

"Only if you are digging for it Mr. Potter, only if you are digging for those thoughts." The Potion Master stated simply as he strategically planned how to make the boy doubt his father's innocence and what would get him the best reaction. "You on the other hand were broadcasting your thoughts. Your mother would be…. Disappointed."

Potter looked up sharply. "What do you know about my mother. Sirius told me you only have ever been friends with Deatheaters."

'Got him.'

"I knew her long before she ever met James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, or that rat Peter Pettigrew." He paused. "Black really should know that as she came with me to the Hogwarts Express, board with me and remained my friend for years."

He then swept out of the room, leaving a stuttering boy in his wake with only his own thoughts for company.

Severus could almost hear Lily in his head. 'One point to you, Severus, but did you really have to be so mean to my son?'

'Do you truly want Sirius Black to be your child's sole role model Lily?' Severus responded back, knowing that she was not real.

'He loves Harry.'

'Does he?' Severus thought calmly as he proceeded down the stairs, 'or does he just love him because he reminds him of James?'

'At least he cares and loves him.'

'As much as an abuser loves their own flesh and blood.' Severus thought bitterly, 'That is never enough without boundaries and allowing the child to become who he wants to be instead of what others expect him to be.'

'What would you know? All you care about is denigrating him!'

'Ironically, more than you.' Severus thought as continued to walk down the stairs. All the while he could hear the boy muttering about "how there was no way a Deatheater could have known or spent time with his mother."

Severus simply responded by calling out, "Move it Potter!"

HJP/STS/HJP/STS

Harry stared sullenly out the window as Snape drove them to his new prison, also known as the Dungeon Bat's flat.

'Probably complete with skeletons chained to basement walls, disgusting potions ingredients, a rack, and other torture devices.' The Boy-Who-Lived snarled internally. 'The Greasy Git probably lives in a ghetto.'

Harry was not exactly sure what a ghetto was and he was not even quite sure that they had them in Britain. He was not even sure, if there were ghettos in the UK that they were the same things as in the Americas.

He watched as a book that was on the dash sped across to his side of the car when Snape had to rapidly stop due to someone pulling out in front of them.

'Great the git is already trying to kill me.' The young wizard thought spitefully as the older wizard leaned across the gear column to get the book before returning to his previous thoughts.

Either way, he was sure that Snape lived in one. A ghetto that is. In fact, he would bet the bond Sirius had helped him to forge over the past year with his dad's and Sirius' souls.

"Ouch!" Harry exclaimed as a sharp burning sensation in his wrist causing the boy to cradle his wrist to his chest. He glared at the Potion Master, sure that the bastard had hexed him in some way.

"What's wrong Mr. Potter?" Snape drawled as he pulled the book back to his side. "Did you catch your wrist on something."

Harry just glared knowing that it wouldn't be it to start screaming when they were already in a confined space. They had already fought before they had gotten into the care because the Git had had the audacity to snap at him to get into the car when all he was doing was looking around for Ron. Of course, he had not told the professor that since it wasn't as if Ron really mattered to the old bat anyways. And since Snape didn't care about Ron, Harry had decided he wouldn't question the professor on why they were driving to his flat nor why he could drive at all. It wasn't like purebreds actually attempted to learn about muggle lifestyles and what not. Plus, asking a question would be pointless. He knew he wouldn't get an answer.

Hell, even Sirius probably wouldn't get him any answers, but at least Sirius had been a fine upstanding citizen before he had gotten the rap for Harry's parents' murders.

'I bet Snape was lying about knowing my mom. She probably would love that I want to be like Dad and Sirius were at my age.'

Harry watched the scenery pass by as they entered into a small suburb of the main city.

"We are almost to our destination, Mr. Potter." Snape drawled, startling Harry out of his reverie. "I hope you are prepared to carry your trunk while I get the rest of your things."

'Carry? Why in the hell would I have to carry my trunk?' Harry leveled a glare at the potion master.

Snape just kept driving, obviously ignoring him.

"Is this some form of punishment Snape? Making me carry my trunk when you can easily shrink it?"

Harry stared angrily, wishing the older wizard would just pull over so they could have it out.

"It is Professor Snape or Sir, Mr. Potter." Snape spit out at him, the vein in his right temple throbbing.

'Nice to know I can get such a reaction.' Harry thought with an internal smirk. 'Unfortunately, he isn't pulling over to have it out. Perhaps I can escape when I get to the ghetto apartment?'

His focus snapped back to Snape when he realized that the older man was still speaking. "If you have not noticed, you idio… Mr. Potter, we are in a muggle neighbor. There will not be any foolish wand waving or silly incantations here."

"You said that in potions class the first day." Harry muttered, causing the professor to send a brief glare at him before he continued to drive.

Harry decided to push his luck and bring out the big guns. "Being in a muggle neighborhood wouldn't have stopped Sirius, the Weasleys, or my parents."

It didn't get the reaction he had been hoping for, as all Snape did was to start smirking evilly.

"If the Weasleys are honestly using magic in front of muggles, they are asking to be caught by the aurors and other officers who endeavor to insure that are world is kept secret from muggles. Mr. Weasley Sr. should know better than using magic where it can be seen since it is his job, is it not, to keep muggle artifacts from being illegally charmed and altered?"

Harry renewed his glare at the older wizard before sullenly replying, "Yes."

The older man glanced over at him, his smirk growing upon hearing Harry's reply.

'Sadistic git.'

"Now, Black….. I would not put it past him to … show off in front of muggles." Snape continued pointedly and gleefully. Harry attempted to cut him off but he just continued to speak. "Your father generally had enough sense not to risk the wizarding world being discovered by doing something as idiotic as using magic in front of muggles. Your mother, I know would be applaud to know that you would believe that she would break one of the cardinal rules of our society."

Harry's hackles raised at Snape's mention and subsequent dismissal of his godfather. Before he could properly open his mouth, Snape's reveal of information about his parents stopped him dead.

"Dad wouldn't have used magic? But Sirius told me he was always willing to have a laugh at the confusion it caused the muggles." Harry was puzzled, he was sure that the Professor was lying. But the professor took great joy in telling Harry bits of the truth that no one else would.

"Potter Senior may have never shown any interest in learning about the culture your mother came from, but he did not use his magic or draw attention to the magical world in the company of muggles or in their areas." Snape stated point blankly, his face completely neutral, but his eyes were dancing with glee. "Granted it took him a few times to realize it when he visited your mother and Ministry threatened to snap his wand for using magic in a muggle area."

"Bet you enjoyed hearing that." Harry growled.

"I was more thrilled that your mother gave him remedial lessons in proper behavior around muggles. Potter at least paid attention. The mutt and the wolf did not." Came the plain reply as Snape pulled into a drive to a set of apartment buildings. They looked a little worn, but they appeared to be well maintained buildings that housed apartments about one and half stories high.

"We are here." Snape stated quietly as he put the car in park and put the brake up.

'Damn. I was wrong on at least one count.' Harry thought with a pout. 'He is supposed to live in a ghetto. … Still he probably has chains in his apartment to lock up people like me."

Harry decided to attempt to process what the Professor had told him as he got out and proceeded to the boot where Snape was standing.

'So… If I am to believe Snape, my father learned from my mother not to use magic around muggles while Padfoot and Moony did not.' Harry weighed the information in his mind. 'The question is why would mom go off on them? Sirius said that mom always loved their pranks.'

He realized, once again, that Snape had begun speaking once more and this time Harry willingly listened. Any information about his parents was better than none.

"Lily Evans was not a shrieking violet as some of your fellow Gryffindor girls are now days." Snape seemed to pause in thought, causing Harry to wonder how the man knew all this information. He was a snake. Ron and Sirius had always told him that snakes care nothing and know nothing about students in the other houses.

"She was a fiery hell cat, a fierce defender of her friends, and a strict follower of the rules."

"So essentially she was a passionate person who defended her friends against all costs while still being a brownnoser?"

Harry was sure that the older man would kill him for the comment he had just made, but he was surprised to find that all the dark wizard did was laugh.

"Your mother would be mightily displeased to hear that last comment, Mr. Potter. She often adamantly stated that she was merely well dispilined in proper behavior." Snape smirked softly. Then, almost as if he was only thinking aloud, he added, "She always followed the rules, unless it was in defense of her friends. Friends meant everything to Lily."

"I bet that it was your practice of dark magic that was what made her leave you behind." Harry stated nastily, but almost instantly regretted the comment.

'Why am I saying these things? I never say these things unless I'm pissed.'

Snape, fortunely did not seem to hear the true phrasing of the comment because he just continued with his story.

"No, actually, it was merely a mean name said in the heat of the moment after being embarrassed in front of the school that drove her away." Snape paused, obviously lost in thought, before glancing at Harry. "I believe Miss. Granger, Mr. Weasley, and yourself have often thrown around comments similar in nature, but not as profound."

"It must have been some horrible name." Harry stated softly, thinking back to some of things that Ron, Mione, and him had called each other when they were angry. The words always hurt. "Did you attempt to apologize afterward Professor?"

Snape looked over at him as put the key in the boot's lock and popped the boot open. "Multiple times, Mr. Potter, multiple times. Perhaps it was peer pressure or solely the word itself, but your mother wrote me off as being unsaveable after that point in time."

"Were you, Professor?" Upon seeing a hint of confusion in the black eyes as the professor looked up from his spot inside the luggage compartment where he was attempting to get the baggage out. "Unsaveable at that point?"

Emerging from the trunk, Snape gave him a searching look. "No, I do not believe it I was. I think at that point it might have been an uphill battle, but I do not believe that I was unsaveable at that point in time."

There was a note of finality in the older wizard's voice that caused Harry to just pick up his school trunk as Professor Snape grabbed his (Harry's) book bag, his own bag, Hedwig's cage, and a spare duffle bag.

Harry struggled with the trunk for a minute attempting to figure out what the best way to carry the monstrosity would be. He could feel his anger rising at the Professor's lack of empathy for his plight.

"If you put the trunk down on its base and lift it by the handle on the right side you can roll the trunk in by pulling it into the apartment."

Harry stared at the evil professor blankly for a minute before looking down at his trunk. Sure enough on the left side of the trunk at the bottom was a set of wheels. The-Boy-Who-Lived put the trunk down and wheeled it up the walkway to the middle most apartment door. He watched as Snape pulled out a key and inserted it into the lock.

As soon as he had gotten the door open, he gestured Harry to enter. Harry was fully prepared for whips and chains as he entered.

"Welcome to your new home, Mr. Potter." Snape stated as Harry froze in the doorway.

STS/HJP/STS/HJP

Severus had been focusing on driving the car on the right-hand side of the road for most of the ride to his apartment. He had never in his life been so happy that Lily had insisted that they both learned how to drive the summer before they parted company. Though never of them had been speaking at the time they had taken their tests, they had tested on the same day and congratulated each other on the other's success. When Severus had attempted to apologize, Lily had informed him that he was merely an unwanted acquaintance now and to leave her alone. It had been in that heat of the moment that he had chosen his side. Sometimes Severus wondered if Lily had any experience with anger and saying things that she didn't mean. Their mutual friend had told him that Lily seemed to live in a bubble at times. Still, Severus loved Lily despite her faults, but it seemed his lack of control over his tongue at a young age when he was angry was not a forgivable sin as he believed her sins to be.

'Lily… I wonder if you were really as dense as Sam believed you to be or if it was merely the influence of all the other Gryffindors on you.' Severus thought as he parked the car and proceeded to the boot or trunk as the Americans were fond of calling it.

'I did nothing wrong,' was the reply he was sure he would have received from her.

Snape mentally shook his head and returned his concentration to searching for the key to open the trunk. They had both had succumbed to peer pressure in the end from two very different but equally deadly sources.

Remembering a conversation he had had recently with Lily and his old mutually friend, he had to wonder about some things.

'Maybe it is like the thoughts that Sam had vocalized for me that the other teachers and Albus perpetuate the cycle of supposed evilness by making the new Slytherins feel like outcasts and manifestations of the worst traits of humanity. Why would they make any other choice when all the 'light' has shown them is hatred?'

"But why would mom go off on them" Severus heard the boy mutter under his breath.

Severus' lips twitched. Sometimes the boy was very much like Lily, who frequently spoke her thoughts out loud.

"Lily Evans was no shrieking violet." Severus stated with an internal smirk, as he glanced over at her son's bewildered face before returning his gaze back to the VW Gulf's trunk in front of him. He knew it would be easier for the boy to speak to him if he was not looking directly at him.

"She was a fiery hell cat, a fierce defender of her friends, and a strict follower of the rules."

"So essentially she was a passionate person who defended her friends against all costs while still being a brownnoser?" Potter's child stated simply.

At any other time Severus was sure he would have become angry. Maybe it was the conversations he had had recently with Sam or maybe it was just because of the thoughts he had previously been entertaining. So he was not surprised that the boy looked shocked he started laughing.

"Your mother would be mightily displeased to hear that last comment, Mr. Potter. She often adamantly stated that she was merely well dispilined in proper behavior." Severus smirked softly. Lily would have been royally pissed. Ironically though, the child's description of her was accurate.

Deciding to reward the boy, Severus allowed himself to continue. "She always followed the rules, unless it was in defense of her friends. Friends meant everything to Lily."

"I bet that it was your practice of dark magic that was what made her leave you behind." The little snot replied nastily before a look of horror and dismay crossed over his face.

'Just when I begin to think he is like Lily, he makes a comment that reminds me of Potter.' Severus observed. However, the quick change of emotion that had crossed the boy's face was interesting and highly un-Potter-like. Worth exploring.

'He reminds me of another sharp-tongued man.' The Lily voice stated in his head. 'Perhaps if your anger had manifested this way you would have been strong enough to stay in the light.'

'Perhaps Lily, you should have had your head examined prior to going into hiding. If the boy makes comments and responds like me, like you said, than perhaps someone should not have trusted the Headmaster so blindly to allow him his own choice in where to put one's beloved son?'

'So you admit that there is something wrong?'

'I already said there was something interesting and worth exploring, did I not?'

"No, actually, it was merely a mean name said in the heat of the moment after being embarrassed in front of the school that drove her away." Severus paused, thinking back to the boy's previous years at school and his interactions with his friends. "I believe Miss. Granger, Mr. Weasley, and yourself have often thrown around comments similar in nature, but not as profound."

Severus looked over at the boy, upon finding the blasted key to the boot. He was surprised to find empathy glittering in those emerald depths.

'That is one thing I am glad that the boy has more of than Lily; empathy. Lily could not put herself in another's shoes or relate to other's experiences. She had such a black and white mindset.'

"It must have been some horrible name." Harry practically whispered. He looked deep in thought before looking up at Severus again. "Did you attempt to apologize afterward Professor?"

Severus was surprised at the boy's use of his title, but hid it as he glanced down at the trunk lock and inserted it. He looked back up at Harry as he popped the boot open. "Multiple times, Mr. Potter, multiple times. Perhaps it was peer pressure or solely the word itself, but your mother wrote me off as being unsaveable after that point in time."

He lifted the boy's trunk out of the compartment and worked on bringing the boy' s bookbag, his own bag, the duffle bag, and the owl's cage up to the front of the trunk. Never mind his embarrassment that the whole world could see his butt in the jeans he was wearing as he practically had to crawl in the trunk. He was sure the girl next door was looking out her window, enjoying the peek show. Sam, if her apartment was closer, probably would be wolf-whistling at this point.

"Were you, Professor?" Lily's son asked so softly that Severus glanced up to search the boy's eyes and face for a clue to what he had said. This seemed to prompt the boy to continue, "Unsaveable at that point?"

Emerging from the trunk, Severus gave the boy a searching look. It had been awhile since any of the teachers here or back at Hogwarts had seen this Harry. This was the Harry who was without the Weasley boy or Black's influence. Severus found that he was ashamed of himself looking back and seeing that this was the boy that he had dealt with originally.

He was now determined to get that sensitive, hard-working boy he had only met briefly, back. Severus also knew that unlike Lily, he would not give up. Let the boy hit rock bottom, yes, but give up? Never.

"No, I do not believe it I was. I think at that point it might have been an uphill battle, but I do not believe that I was unsaveable at that point in time." He said slowly, closing the topic… for now.

He placed the boy's trunk down on the ground and Harry grabbed and attempted to lug it up the front sidewalk.

'Silly boy. He does not even realize that I put wheels on it.' Severus thought as he heaved the bags onto his back and grabbed the boy's owl's cage. He could practically see the boy's temper flaring.

"If you put the trunk down on its base and lift it by the handle on the right side you can roll the trunk in by pulling it into the apartment." The older wizard stated bluntly as the boy's face started to contort with anger and, oddly enough, a pout.

He walked by the younger wizard carrying his allotment of baggage into his… their… apartment. He could hear the moment the boy managed to realize that there was rollers on the end of the trunk by the sound of skidding noises issuing from the concrete.

Severus made his way up to the middle most apartment sandwiched between two college age girls, who thankfully, were more into studying and working than partying. In an apartment down the way was Sam, a young woman both Lily and him had first met the summer of 1972 between their first and second years. Her Grandfather had been stationed at a nearby base and her grandmother and her had followed him from the states. They had rented a house in Spinner's End after realizing they could not get base housing.

Severus shook off his thoughts as he took out his flat key ('Apartment! They call it an apartment here!' He could hear his American friend teasing him.) and inserted it into the door. He knew that the boy was following him by sound of clacking coming from the trunk wheels.

He opened the door and gestured Harry to enter the apartment. The boy stopped three feet into the apartment and looked as if he was almost losing his grip on the handle of his trunk.

"Welcome to your new home, Mr. Potter." Severus stated as the boy gaped at the apartment which caused him to bite back a smile.

"Close your mouth, Harry, or you will catch a fly in it." The Potion Master stated with a smirk using a phrase his American friend was fond of using. "What were you expecting? Some chains, snake skulls, and torture devices?"

TBC….