The Mortal

step? "Snape obviously wasn't fooled.

Harry was silent for a moment. "That's my personal hobby." He was a little unconfident. "Can't you...Merlin, can't you see me as a simple gesture of kindness? After all that we've all been through?"

He's slumped on the couch in a self-defeating manner, with no manners at all - but so what in his own home.

"...good intentions?" Snape's brows were already furrowed. "I don't see any need for that."

"Just as I want to thank you for what you have done to me over the years."

"Thank you for stomping your face in the mud?" Snape shot back immediately.

How can someone be so difficult. Harry said calmly in his mind, you don't need to be too surprised if you knew he was a jerk. "Let's just say that you are trying to keep my life, don't remind me that you have to pay for humiliating me," he said.

The silence lasted about 1 minute.

Harry could see struggle and defensiveness in Snape's silent body language, as if his approach was some kind of hostile aggression that was disturbing.He had nothing to say about that, because sometimes he couldn't figure out what he was thinking either - and he was trying to figure out, therefore, that there was something about Snape that was drawing him closer, which didn't make sense at all.

"I think it's clear to you that what I did had nothing to do with you, it was purely self-serving." Snape slowly forced the words out of the back of his throat. "You don't owe me anything. Even if it's the opposite, even I won't ignore what you've done for me - the reason I keep breathing here."

Is this a veiled thank you? Harry lay there staring at the ceiling thinking for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, it's not like that. What I said to you the other day... I don't deny it, but at the same time it was completely one-sided. I know you've made mistakes, but The way you make it up...you could not have done it to that extent, and I have indeed benefited a lot from your teaching."

Snape shuddered, as if hearing something terrible. "Because of me? To benefit? That's not funny."

"I'm not kidding." Harry sat up with his midriff, turning in Snape's direction. "It's just that the time is different from what you understand. I really hated you very much back then-well, we are half of us in this matter, and I will not specifically apologize for it-so that I ignored a lot of the information you were trying to convey. In short , during my time as an Auror, I would often go back to my old memories for help, and you... have been a great help."

"that is not-"

"That saved my life many times." Harry interrupted him gently but firmly. "As for what I did, it's not worth mentioning. Most people will not watch someone die in front of their eyes without being indifferent. You don't need to bear any burden for it."

For a moment, Snape didn't seem to know how to react.Slowly he sank his shoulders, sinking himself into the armchair, his gaze falling back to the book in his lap without a clear focus.

"Most people." His voice was so low. "Wouldn't have chosen to save a Death Eater then, let alone him who killed Dumbledore. You don't know it all, Potter. You're not the only one who knows about the wrong things I've done."

Presumably something to do with the following part of Voldemort's heyday. Harry wandered, looking out the window at the bright, distant sky.But so what?Right and wrong have been difficult to judge clearly during the entire process of this war. Everyone makes choices from different positions, and right or wrong is only a relative term.Just as he was so grateful for his parents' protection and love, but could never forgive what his father had done to Snape - he thought almost desperately that day - he loved James, but he would not forgive him for that.

Harry knew exactly what it was like to be humiliated in front of a crowd of onlookers, but he still didn't take half as much as Snape did.He'd even put himself in the shoes - if it had been him, after all the cruel humiliation, wouldn't he really... choose the powerful and charismatic Dark Lord at the time?

The past cannot be changed.There is never a real right or wrong for things in this world, the antecedents and consequences are intertwined and intertwined, and it took him a long time to understand these principles.Reciprocating memories will bring endless torture, and some things are destined to never have answers.

"I know." He said quietly. "Believe me, enough time has happened while you were asleep that I can understand this. I'm not saying you're a good man, sir. I'm saying you don't owe me anything."

It's all over.He stared at Snape silently.That war, the entangled protection and misunderstanding between them, the guilt and self-blame left over from the previous generation, the insult and injustice, the redemption and responsibility, the weight of the whole world on their shoulders.This should all be over.

Snape's eyes were fixed on Harry.

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but didn't make any syllables.His fingers tightened on the smooth pages, and his body seemed to sink back even deeper.Then slowly, something flew away from his body, taking away with him the iron wall that hadn't melted for many years.

It was the most vulnerable Harry had ever seen him. All the muscles in Snape's body were motionless, even his chest heaved unnoticeably, he was frozen like a statue, his posture was indestructible, but Harry just knew it was an illusion.Maybe he was a little dazed, at a loss, and suddenly lost the relief of a heavy burden. These speculations surged in his heart, but he just looked back at the man seriously, without saying anything.

Maybe a century later.

"For what?" came Snape's voice, weary. "Your kindness, Potter. What do you want from me?" Almost insignificant by the end.

This suspicion turned into fine needles and pricked Harry's body.He didn't feel any pain, just a sore feeling, which was terribly uncomfortable.He knew the feeling, the stakes built on no trust, the fact that too many people had plots against the Savior for various purposes, those friendly jeers that nearly ruined the entire banquet hall - and in Snape's life. This has become the norm.

He had Hermione, he had Ron. Snape had nothing.

"If I said there was no attempt, you might not believe me," Harry said. "I want to... figure out one thing."

"Specifically." Snape said in a sure-fire tone.His defenses were back—or maybe not quite as tight.

"I don't know." He knew his answer sounded stupid. "If I knew, there would be no need to wonder," he went on. "It's about you. It's weird, I thought something terrible would happen with your arrival - not blaming you - it was me. The last two years... something went wrong with me, which was part of the reason I left the wizarding world. I thought it would be unbearable to think about the past, but unexpectedly, you make me feel... safe here?" The last word was spit out uncertainly.

The expected progress did not appear, Snape was no less confused than him, and his curiosity about missing two years grew infinitely. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked softly.

"I... I really don't know. Frankly, this week has been the most peaceful I've had in years. Without that..." swallowed a few syllables, Harry said. "I won't make any excessive demands, I swear. We'll just get along normally, and you treat me as... me. Is that okay? That's all I'm trying to do."

"that's it?"

"that's it."

Snape gave him a deep look. Harry didn't have time to tell what it was, the only thing he knew was that the expected vicious comment didn't come as expected.So this should be the real beginning between them - between Severus Snape and Harry Potter.

"It would probably be very unwise," Snape said finally.

Harry smiled.

"I don't think that sounds like a rejection," he said.

For the next few days, everything seemed normal.Only occasionally, Snape looked at Harry with strange eyes, as if he had just met this person, but not completely strange. Harry let it go without any extra probing.

The owl still pecked at the window regularly, and Ron expressed his shock and admiration for the cohabitation incident between the lines, and expressed his steadfastness in the work of collecting the corpses. Harry told Snape a few jokes in it, and Snape slowly listed a series of feasible murder plans, and Harry couldn't help laughing at the regretful tone of it.

The remaining room had been completely converted into a workshop - as it had been said, Harry had left the reins entirely to the Potions Master.So the familiar cauldron appeared again, and Harry added many spells to this room to prevent accidents, and the rules of disabling magic were compromised several times on Snape - he felt that he had almost become Snape's backup wand, almost being released Stir in a hot cauldron.

"I don't know when Gryffindor mutated into