Snape's Unknown Secret

The Meeting

Snape sat behind his desk in his office after eating dinner in the great hall. He was waiting to talk to Harry. He needed to make things right with him.

Suddenly there was a timid knock on the door.

"Come in," Snape said.

Harry came in looking extra insecure and nervous.

"Have a seat Potter."

Harry sat down in front of Snape and looked like he was getting ready to get yelled at.

"Potter I wanted to talk to you about..."

"It's Harry." Harry said quietly while looking at the floor. Snape was caught off guard and then continued.

"Harry... I wanted to talk to you about the news we have discovered." Harry didn't say anything he just sat there staring at the ground. "Harry, I'm so sorry."

"You should be."

"I know. I will completely understand if you hate me. I can explain. You're father, err James, and I didn't have a good relationship when we went to school together and I treated you like you were his clone... I'm sorry..." Snape hadn't said those words since he said them to Lily. And now he was saying it to their son.

Harry didn't move. He sat there staring at the floor.

"Why did you hate James?" Harry asked quietly.

"It's a very long story that I don't want to talk about."

Harry finally looked up and into Snape's eyes. Harry's eyes were a piercing green just like Lily's, and Harry's face and hair... Snape just realized that Harry has his straight black hair and long face, but Lily's nose and cheeks. How dumb was he? He was so focused on Harry being a Potter spawn that he had never noticed how alike they looked.

"Sir?" Harry knocked Snape out of his day dreaming.

"That's a story for another time. Do you think you can forgive me?"

"I don't know.." Harry looked down at his hands that were fiddling with the ripped seam of his robes.

"I understand."

Harry got up to leave Snape's office.

"Wait!" Snape called and Harry sat back down slowly. "Do you know why Dumbledore told us last night? In the middle of the night..?"

"That's er a long story... I don't think I want to tell you."

"Please trust me Potter I want to try and make things right with you.." Snape shocked himself when he heard him say that out loud. Based on Harry's face, he to was shocked.

"Oh um.." Harry looked down at his feet. "You can't get me into trouble."

Snape wasn't sure where this was going but agreed so that Harry would trust him.

"Okay.. I got an invisibility cloak for Christmas and it used to be my fathers. I mean James's.."

"Wait! James has an invisibility cloak!" Things from Snape's experience at Hogwarts we're starting to make more sense.

"Yeah. That night I couldn't sleep so I wanted to try it out." Harry looked at Snape to see if he would get mad while Snape tried his hardest to keep a straight face.

"Go on," Snape finally managed to say.

"I was er.." Harry had to be very careful to make sure he didn't reveal that he went into the restricted section of the library, or Snape might loose his temper. "Exploring the corridors.. As I was walking along I almost ran into you, sir."

Snape already knew this. He wondered why Harry would be worried about getting into trouble.

"When you finally walked away I ran away and found my self in an abandoned classroom. There was this weird mirror in there.."

"What was so weird about it?" Snape was quite curious now.

"Well Dumbledore found me and told me that it showed the heart's greatest desire." Oddly Snape knew what mirror Harry was talking about.

"It showed me my family I lost. I saw my mom, she was pretty." Snape felt his heart sink. He hadn't seen Lily in over ten years. He almost started tearing up but held back. "I saw you, standing with your arm around lily. I didn't recognize you because you were younger. I finally recognized you when you frowned. you looked happier then."

It seemed as if Harry realized who he was talking to and put his head down again.

"Well Dumbledore found me and he wanted to talk to me in his office, and we ran into you along the way." Harry said and looked up again.

"Ah, and then we saw the memory."

"Yes. How did you know my mother?" The dreaded question. Snape hoped Harry wouldn't ask.

After a few seconds of Snape not knowing what to say, Harry broke the silence. "I told you something, now you tell me."

"Fine. I met your mother at a park when we were 9. She and her sister were playing and I suspected that she was a witch. After watching her I realized that she was. When I told her, she was offended at first. We quickly became best friends. The rest is a blur for some reason." Snape's head hurt while he tried to remember the rest but couldn't. (Besides the memory from the pensive.)

"Oh," Harry was a bit disappointed because Snape couldn't remember.

"You can leave now, it's getting late." Snape finally said.

"Okay, bye sir."