“What…?” Harry began, but stopped at the slight scowl on Snape’s face.

“I believe we had a deal Mr. Potter,” Severus said, leaning back slightly as he waited for Harry to answer his questions.

“Fine,” Harry muttered, “But I want to know why you’d ask that.”

“Answer my questions and I will answer yours,” Severus replied neutrally. “There is nothing else for us to do here, so we may as well answer longstanding questions. It will help to pass the time if nothing else.”

“Ok,” Harry shrugged, resigning himself to the fact that he’d have to wait a bit for answers. “My relatives really didn’t abuse me. Occasionally Uncle Vernon would smack me around, or Aunt Petunia would try to hit me with something, but most times if I did something wrong I was just locked in my cupboard without food. Dudley liked to use me as a punching bag, if he could catch me.”

“Hm, similar occurrences with different circumstances,” Severus said, half to himself, as he thought back to days long ago when he hadn’t had proper food or clothing as well, although for different reasons.

“What do you mean by that sir?” Harry asked confusedly, not really expecting an answer. Guess I know what question I’ll be asking first when it’s my turn again. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do as soon as I can leave here. My friends don’t seem to want anything to do with me anymore; even Madame Pomfrey is afraid of me now. I always hated the attention that came from being the boy-who-lived, but even that was better than this. I hate that people are so afraid of me; it’s even worse than second year.”

“I still cannot believe those fools believed you were Dark simply because you are a parselmouth,” Severus replied, shaking his heads, “Most people would trade anything to be able to converse with their familiar, yet when they meet someone who possesses such a gift they treat them like a leper.”

Harry laughed for what felt like the first time in forever. “So I’m not the only one who thinks that? I couldn’t believe that they believed that I was letting some legendary beast loose in the school when I had never even heard of the Chamber in the first place.”

“The idiocy of people is astounding at times,” Severus readily agreed. In a softer voice, he added, “You haven’t answered my last question yet.”

Harry sighed, before looking at Severus once more. He was surprised at the fragile hope in the boy’s eyes, as though he couldn’t believe that Severus would want to be around him for any length of time. Considering our prior relationship and his past with his relatives, that probably isn’t too far off the mark.

“You’re the only one who’s ever treated me like a regular person, not some supposed savior.” Harry sighed. “They never really could make up their minds about me. Ever since I entered this world for the first time, everybody in it has fluctuated between falling at my feet in awe and cringing away from me in terror. Now, you’re still the only person treating me normally, even though it’s kind of abnormal for you. If I went with you, I know that I wouldn’t have to worry about you turning on me over something stupid. You’re the closest thing I have to a friend at the moment Professor, so yeah, I’d like to go with you when you leave; if you don’t mind that is.”

“It’s a sad day when your most hated professor is closest thing you have to a friend,” Severus remarked dryly, “About as sad as the student you swore would be the death of you a thousand times over is the closest thing you have had to a friend in more years than you would care to remember.”

“So we’re friends?” Harry asked, smiling slightly at the smirking Potions Master.

“Is that your next question Mr. Potter?” Severus had to admit that he was enjoying the light banter between them. How times change. I never would have believed that I would someday consider Potter a friend, yet that possibility is becoming more and more likely.

“One of them,” Harry replied, still smiling. “There are two others.”

“Ask then,” Severus said, shifting slightly to get more comfortable; the beds in the hospital wing were never truly comfortable.

“One was about what you said earlier, after I answered your question about the Dursleys. The other question was about where exactly in the muggle world we’d be headed.”

“I was planning on returning to my house in Spinner’s End,” Severus said, answering the easier of the two questions first, “It’s not much, but it has lasted me this long. There is a spare room that you could stay in.”

“And the other question sir?” Harry asked softly, noticing the subtle tightening of the man’s face.

“How much do you remember about what you viewed in my memories?” Severus asked, not wanting to prolong this branch of the conversation. He couldn’t lie; the boy had been honest even if he probably hadn’t wanted to remember his past, so Severus would simply have to grit his teeth and tell him.

“Um…You knew my mum when she was little…you made a tree branch hit Aunt Petunia when she  was mean to you,” Harry replied, grinning at that last part.

“I did, but that was not what I was referring to,” Severus sighed. I really should have suspected where the boy’s focus would have been, after all, he’d never seen his mother before other than in pictures.

“What’s this have to do with my question sir?” Harry asked confusedly.

“If you had remembered part of my conversation with Lily, I wouldn’t have had to explain in as much detail,” Severus said.

“Sorry sir,” Harry said, but the man just waved the apology away. He sat for a moment, as though gathering his resolve before he spoke.

“You mentioned not having enough to eat when you spoke of your relatives,” Severus finally said, closing his eyes as he spoke, “Which mirrored my own childhood in a way. My father was an alcoholic, a drunken bum as well. My mother had no real skills besides brewing, so she couldn’t get a job in the muggle world and was only occasionally able to get orders for potions. My father spent more time at the pub playing poker and drinking than he did working, and as such money was rather tight. I wore my father’s old clothing and was lucky to have one meal every two days.”

Harry gaped at Severus. He’s kidding, right? But as he thought about it, he remembered the baggy, overlarge clothing that the memory Snape had been wearing when he was talking to Lily about magic.

“He had a rather foul temper, and soon I learned how to hide in the shadows, waiting until my father had passed out drunk before venturing outside. Speaking to your mother was a welcome escape, but it had a cost, as everything does. If my father found out that I was speaking to her, then I would get a lashing with his belt.”

“Why? What did he have against you having friends?” Harry asked angrily. He’d had no idea how similar Snape’s past was to his, although he’d take time in his cupboard to a beating with a belt any day.

“Freaks don’t deserve friends,” Severus said, eyes still closed, “And in his mind I was a freak. I was a pale, skinny bookworm, and on top of that I had magic. Accidental magic was punished, as was acting in any way he disapproved of. He expected me to join sports teams, even though we had no money for such things. I was shy and quiet, and he wanted a son he could relate to. Subsequently, he tried to make me ‘normal’, in his eyes.”

“How long did he do that?” Harry asked, feeling sympathy for Severus. He had that at home, then Dad and Padfoot and the rat picking on him at Hogwarts. Merlin, no wonder he’s always so snarky.

“Until I was of age, when I no longer had to stay with him,” Severus replied, shuddering slightly, “I had just completed my Mastery, graduating on my eighteenth birthday, and I quickly got a job brewing for St. Mungo’s, opening my own mail order potions business so that I didn’t have to worry about money. Then, of course, you know what happened.”

Harry nodded. Severus had taken the Mark, joining the Death Eaters. Harry rapidly cast about for a way to change the tone of the conversation. “Um…It’s your turn to ask a question sir.”

Severus opened his eyes, looking at the boy on the bed across from him. He realized what Harry was doing and smiled slightly. Maybe they wouldn’t drive each other crazy after all.