Only You Can Set Me Free

Authors Note: To the lovely reviewer who pointed out the fact that none of the girls swooned or fainted at the sight of Harry and his new attitude and ensemble, well, there is a perfectly good explanation. He was wearing robes, so they really could not see his clothes. And as for his attitude, well, they saw it and were too shocked to do pretty much anything. There will be plenty of surprises, so stay tuned.

Authors Note # 2: Ok, Snape and Draco had nothing to do with Dumbledore’s death. His death was, in fact, caused by Voldemort personally. I forgot to mention that earlier, so I am doing that now. Sorry if I kept u wondering.

Damage Control and Snape’s Hardships

The next few days after Harry’s public display of affection toward Draco consisted of Remus running damage control and erasing the memory of the incident from the entire student population, with the exception to Draco and Harry, who begged his god father to let only those two have their memories remain in tact. All the while, Snape sneered at the thought of the werewolf covering for Potter.

‘Another Dumbledore, bloody brilliant,’ Snape thought disdainfully as he brooded in the confines of his dank chambers. At the moment, he was in the middle of a fire call with none other than the Head Master himself. Apparently, Snape was not doing an adequate job of playing nice with The Boy Who Lived. Lupin took it upon himself to see that the matter at hand would be resolved soon, for his god sons' sake.

Now, Lupin was having an internal struggle with his heart and his brain. His heart told him to treat Harry as though he were above the other students, for he was his family, his life. His brain told him that putting Harry on a pedestal would cause the others to scorn and resent him for being the Head Masters pet. He would not make the same mistake Dumbledore had. He would treat Harry as equally as the other pupils. That meant no more covering up for him, well, not all the time.

On the other side of the fire, Snape was having his own inner struggle while the other man continued to talk through his own thoughts.

Snape was struggling with the fact that he was in love with a werewolf, or rather, a semi-lycan.

He had been infatuated with Lupin since they themselves were in school, since their sixth year, to be precise. He was quite smitten with the golden eyed man, but refused to act upon his feelings or show them to the other.

Though he wanted noone to know this, the real reason for him being an arse to Harry was because the boy had something he could never acquire, Remus’s love and affection. That was what he wished for day and night, he strived for it badly.

So, there Snape sat, listening to the love of his life lecturing him on the importance of equality and fairness between every one of his pupils. He sat listening for a few minutes in silence. He wanted to prove to his love that he could show some compassion.

“And, so Snape, I really hope you consider all the things I have mentioned to you. It would mean a lot to me if you did. I know you hate the ground I walk on, but I wish that we, too, would be able to put our differences aside for the duration of my employment. That is all I wanted to say.” Lupin looked down at Snape, who seemed to be pondering something.

“I will be civil with mister Pot- I mean Harry as per your request Remus. Only because you asked though, and only for you.”

Snape got up from his chair and stood before the fire containing Lupin’s astonished and surprised face. He then became even more astounded when he saw Snape actually bow to him and then turn to exit the chamber. Lupin stood silently for a moment before he pulled his head out of the fire place.

‘Wow, he was actually civil with me, and he is going to be civil with Harry as well…….for me….. I guess Sirius and James were wrong about him all along, he is not a prat at all……’ Lupin smiled and blushed slightly as he walked over to a dozing Eros. He began to stroke the bird thoughtfully. Thoughts of all the horrible things the Marauders did to the young loner ran through his head.

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Harry walked in to his first class of the day, which just so happened to be his least favorite. Potions…

He walked to a table farthest away from his ex pals and sat alone in the dark corner of the chamber. Draco walked in to see Harry sitting at his table and mumbled under his breath. He knew how volatile Harry was now a days, so he thought it best to just stay away from the Gryffindor. He took a seat next to a Gryffindor girl.

When everybody had settled down a little, Snape walked into the room and did the usual ‘make it very dark routine’ and closed all the blinds and curtains to keep any sunlight out. There was very little sunlight in dungeons to begin with.

“Everybody turn to page 608 in your advanced Potions’ books so that we may begin.” There was a shuffle of pages as the class turned to the necessary page as instructed.

Snape surveyed the room and noticed that the Golden Boy was not sitting in his usual spot with the other bothers in his life. He overlooked it and called on Harry.

“Mr. Pot- umm, Harry, can you please read aloud from the book on the given page.” Snape just kept thinking that this was just for his love.

Harry, as well as the rest of the class stared at their professor, flabbergasted. Snape? Asking Harry? Nicely? Did hell freeze over suddenly??

Harry recovered after a few seconds and started to read from the text. Something about water sprites and nymphs and the anatomy of the two, saying what parts were required to make a glamour potion. Harry read the whole page then looked up to Snape.

“Very good Ha… Har….Harry. 20 points awarded to Gryffindor.” Snape then turned to write on the board. A few people turned to Harry, giving him questioning looks. Harry just shrugged and turned his attention back toward Snape.

If Snape was actually being nice to him now, he would be no longer if he saw that Harry was not paying attention.

“Now, these are the instructions and all necessary materials that you will be using this hour.I will now put you in pairs so that you may finish the job.”

So, he picked them off, two by two, until he came to Harry’s name.

‘Harry would really like to be paired off with the red head, so I will allow this.’ Snape thought as he called out their names.

“Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.” The two boys looked shocked and glared at each other. Snape saw this and was confused.

‘They are best friends….. are they not??’ Snape wondered as the students got up to gather their materials.

Harry slowly and grudgingly got up from his desk and walked over to the ingredients to gather what was needed. He then walked over to his desk and lay everything out neatly.

Ron saw that the other boy was not going to bother calling him over to start, so he sneered at Snape and gave Hermione his sad puppy dog pout. She cooed and walked up to kiss him passionately. Everyone shook their heads, with the exception of Harry and Snape. They caught each others glances and Harry made fake puking gestures. Harry smiled as Snape burst into laughter, genuine laugther.

‘Wow, is that really Snape??’ Harry thought, amused.

So, Ron walked over to Harry’s table and stood silently beside the other. Harry was too preoccupied with mixing his potion to notice Ron’s arrival, or the sinister look upon the red heads face.

“Shoot, I forgot the crushed nymphs wings…” Harry said to himself, but Ron had heard him and took his chance.

“Whatever….. I will get it,” Ron said as he turned to retrieve the ingredient.

Harry did not even acknowledge him. He just continued to stir the contents of his pot. Ron was up to something, and Harry knew it…

Ron stood near the table and whispered the windgardrium leviousa spell on a vile on Harry’s desk. Harry was looking at the board and failed to see that there was a vile of nymph eggs being poured into his potion. It started to emit a very foul smelling odor.

Ron smiled as Harry looked down in horror at his potion. He smiled wickedly for he thought that there was no way Snape could blame him for this, he was nowhere near the scene of the accident.

‘Shit… I did everything right, what happened??’ Harry thought miserably as the class started to gag and spit.

“Everybody leave at once,” Snape said as all the students started to head for the door and retreat the room. Ron was pushing his way through before he was pulled back rather roughly by a pair of strong hands.

Harry was in the back trying to stop his potion from bubbling and stop the horrible smell. Draco stood at the far end of the room frowning at the sight of Harry.

‘Poor Potter, Snape will not be to happy about this….’ Draco thought, surprised at how bad he felt for Harry's misfortune. He gathered his things and ran from the room to join the others.

Harry saw Snape coming toward him, a menacing frown on his face.

‘Great, I just gained his respect and it will be blown away now.’ Harry lowered his head shamefully and waited for the yelling to begin. When it was apparent that all would remain silent, Harry looked up into Snapes' eyes. Instead of seeing hateful eyes, though, he saw that Snape was sneering down at a cowering Ron.

“Thought your little prank would go unnoticed, did you Weasley?? Well, it just so happens that I witnessed your little stunt. I will not punish the whole of Gryffindor, but you, young man, will be spending this whole week in detention with me.” Snape then looked down at Harry, who was smiling slightly up at him. The corner of Snape's lip turned up in a smile and then he let Ron out of his grasp.

Ron looked at the two and was angry as hell. Harry was actually being buddy buddy with Snape, and Snape was looking at Harry with a strange look. Ron had never seen the professor look at Harry like that. It was something akin to… respect?

‘No, it couldn’t be.’ Ron was taken aback as the two who hated each others' guts not a few months earlier, talked like best mates. Ron then realized what was going on and smiled nastily at the two.

“You both are flaming queers, aren’t you???” Ron looked as if he was triumphant at the discovery of this revelation. He would tell everybody.

Snape and Harry looked at each other, then angrily to Ron, who was smirking at them. Harry pulled out his wand and jumped toward Ron. Snape was angry and a slightly flustered, he was shocked when Harry rushed Weasley.

“Fucking little piece of snot, you take that back!!” Harry snarled as he thrust his wand into the others ribs. Ron growled menacingly and pushed Harry back.

“No, I will not you filthy little queer. I bet you want to fuck Snape right now. How does he like it Harry?? Bottem or top?? Giving or taking?? Come now Harry, do tell.” Ron smiled maliciously at Harry and then at Snape.

The red head did not know when to shut up.

Harry jumped on the other boy and they fell roughly to the hard ground. Harry punched him as hard as he could. Ron lay dazed while Harry pounded him, then got it together enough to land a hit on Harry’s jaw. Snape was enjoying the sight of the two at it, and Harry being on top of the situation. But he thought it best to separate the two.

“I bet you like this, you fucking queer, getting your highs from this, aren’t ya??” Ron pushed at Harry’s broad shoulders and tried to push the boy off of him. Harry held him down and socked him across the face.

“Yeah, like you're Mr. Wonderful you stupid prat. I would not fuck you if you were the last person on earth.” With that said, Harry started to pound Ron’s head against the ground roughly.

“ENOUGH!!” Snape pulled the two apart roughly and stood between the two.

“Listen to your man Harry, I do not want your blood on my hands.”

Snape glared down the younger man.

“A month of detention for your snide remarks. Another month for the destruction of my room.” Snape said smugly, yet calmly. He wanted to gain his Head Master’s trust, so he could not kill the little git.

Ron glared at the older man and then at Harry, who was wiping blood off of his knuckles.

“Hey, Ronny, looks like I am the one who has your blood on my hands.” Snape snickered at Harry’s comment.

“Yeah, stupid queers, rot in hell.” Ron turned to leave and was spun around harshly.

“You can insult me all you like, you prat, but you just leave him,” Harry motioned to a surprised Snape, “out of this. This is between you and me, and I will not let you drag his name through the dirt. If you say anything about him, I will kill you, understand??” Harry held Ron’s arm in a vice grip.

Ron just nodded quickly and pulled his arm away from Harry. He then walked out of the room and down the hall.

‘I might not be able to tell everybody about Snape, but I can tell them about the little queer, Harry…”

Back in the chamber, Snape looked Harry over quickly and cast a few charms to fix his face up.

“I am sorry about that professor, I was out of control, and I apologize.”

Snape looked at Harry amusedly and then laughed.

“Oh Harry, I don’t mind it at all, really. I am just glad that you put that little prat in his place.” Snape then looked down awkwardly.

“Harry??”

“Yes professor Snape?”

“Thank you for understanding my… ummm….sexuality. I really appreciate you wanting to protect my image.” Snappe blushed uncharacteristically and looked up to see Harry smiling warmly at him.

“Oh, professor, I understand, I too, am gay, so we have something in common.” Harry walked over and placed a comforting hand on Snapes shoulder. Snape smiled and then coughed.

“Well, Harry, you should get going…. Your next class is about to start.”

Harry grabbed his things and sniffed the air, at least the smell was gone. He walked out of the class and up to his next class, Advanced Transfiguration.

There was a group of Gryffindors and A few other houses laughing as Harry walked to the wall opposite them where he leaned against it.

“Harry, is it true that you fuck men??” A Gryffindor called to him and all the others, excluding Draco and Blaise, burst into laughter.

Harry stood cool and just smiled at the boy before sweetly asking the boy a question of his own.

“Hey, is it true that your mother screwed her brother last Christmas after drinking too many Fire Whiskeys. Then let your dog bang her afterwards??”

The boy blushed deeply and turned from all the laughing people.

Harry smiled and walked into the class room and sat down. Draco and Blaise walked in a little later, drying tears of laughter from their eyes. The rest of the class came in after.

‘Well, as long as he keeps Snape out of this, I don’t give a shit.’ Harry looked up as Professor McGonagall started to give her lecture.

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Snape sat thinking in his chambers as he sipped some fire whiskey.

‘Harry actually stood up for me…. I guess it is not going to be such a hard task to be friendly toward him. Maybe he can put in a good word in for me with Remus……..’

Snape smiled and placed his drink down. Then he caught sight of a book lying on the floor. He stood up and walked over to pick it up. He thumbed through the little book, eyes widening the farther he read through it. He was angry and confused at the same time, not a good combination....

The front of the book read….

Property of Harry Potter…..

Ok, there you go. I hope u liked it.