"Good." Snape closed the door in her face, but not before Hermione looked past him to give Harry a little wave of encouragement.
When Snape turned around, his expression was rather dark. "What did they think I was going to do? Eviscerate you?"
"They were just waiting so I could walk with them. Like we agreed, sir, out in Devon."
Snape look mildly bothered by something, which puzzled Harry as his memories of Devon were generally good ones.
"Hmm. Well, let us return to the cause of your mishap. Accidents, you realise, are very rarely strictly that," Snape said in what Harry thought of as his professor's voice. "Why were you uncertain about how to perform the charm, when I specifically assigned readings that would help you learn it in advance?"
Harry couldn't bear to answer that. Miserable, he just hung his head.
Snape sighed. "Harry, answer me. Did you do your homework?"
"Yes..."
A knowing look stole across Snape's features. "I am somewhat familiar with your study habits, you understand. Did you recognise that the readings were providing critical information? Did you give them your full and complete attention?"
Still looking at his feet, Harry shook his head. "I tried, honest. But it was really late and I was having loads of trouble concentrating. I didn't understand some of it, and... and what I did understand I didn't remember so well afterwards."
"This was last night, I presume? How late were you up?"
Harry flushed, wishing he didn't have to have this conversation. "Um, well I started in on your work at about four in the morning, something like that--"
"Four in the morning," Snape said in an ominous tone. "You started at four in the morning. I see. Is there any particular reason why you didn't attempt to do your potions readings at a more normal hour?"
"I didn't have time!" Harry cried, turning away to stare blankly at the chalkboard. "I kept trying to get to them but I had your extra essay to do, and the well-wish, and the duplication charm you told me to learn, not to mention finding a spell so Sals wouldn't get eaten and all my homework for my other classes which takes twice as long now that I can't use proper Latin like everybody else and--" Gulping, Harry forced himself to go quiet.
"I see," Snape said, very slowly. "And who gave you leave to stay up until four in the morning to do all this?"
"Well, you know in the Tower, we sort of do whatever we like..."
"Minerva and I will be having words," Snape snapped, "about her thoroughly lax supervision."
Harry could have said that Snape didn't tuck his Slytherins in every night, did he now... but he didn't quite dare.
"Now," Snape went right on. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?"
"No, sir--"
"You will desist at once from all these yes, sirs and no, sirs!" Snape suddenly demanded, his voice fierce. "I am not calling you Mr. Potter, am I?"
Harry bit his lip. "No, but you're the teacher, aren't you? You can say whatever you like in class."
"We are not in class!" Snape sighed, appearing to calm himself with effort. "Harry, we both have adjustments to make. It is more difficult than I had anticipated having my son move out of my home." He held up a hand when Harry would have spoken. "However, you are where you need to be, so we will leave that aside. But as for class... Harry, this is a classroom, but we are not in class unless there are others present and instruction is underway."
"Oh." Harry felt sort of stupid then, at least until he remembered something. "But you called me Mr. Potter, didn't you, when I asked about the cactus?"
"Once only, as a rather pointed hint."
"Oh, sorry, didn't realise."
Snape sank into a chair and rubbed his temples for a moment. "As I said, this is a period of adjustment. We will make our way through it, I have no doubt."
The man looked tired, Harry thought. Really tired. Harry suddenly felt ten times worse than he had at first. Snape was probably having a horrible time each night, dealing with Draco's childish demands, and what had Harry done but made his days a trial as well? "I'm sorry--"
"If I hear you say that again tonight, I will need a Stomach Calming Draught."
That was all he needed; now he was actually making his father ill. "Um, do you want some water, or...?"
"No." Snape pointed at a nearby chair, one facing him at a slight angle. "I want you to sit there and discuss a few things with me." He waited until Harry was seated to go on. "If you knew you hadn't done the readings sufficiently, why didn't you take advantage of my offer to go do them?"
"Um..."
"Harry," Snape said, his voice going stern, "if you cannot discuss things truthfully with me--"
You'll unadopt me?
Harry almost did a double-take, sitting there. Where the bloody hell had that thought come from?
"--then it will be much more difficult for us to overcome our problems," Snape finished. "So tell me, please. Why didn't you leave class and do your readings, as I specifically suggested?"
Swallowing, Harry braced himself. Snape never had liked to hear his teaching criticised, had he? But on the other hand, he had asked for the truth. "Well, you do tend to... er, mercilessly ridicule people who come to your class unprepared, don't you? And anyway, I didn't want you to think of me that way."
"What way?"
"Um, what you said. A first-year dolt. Or worse." When Snape said nothing, Harry went on, "Look, I just didn't want to disappoint you! If anybody should do your homework well, it ought to be me!"
Snape leaned back and steepled his fingers. "Why is that?"
Harry leaned back too, but his whole body still felt tense. "Gee, I don't know. Because I'm your son?"
"What does that have to do with anything? Even if you were my natural-born son, I wouldn't necessarily expect you to inherit either my love or my facility for potion-making."
"No, I meant..." Frustrated, Harry tried to figure out what he had meant. It wasn't easy. The mass of emotions inside him was like a knotted ball of feelings boiling up to the surface but then slipping out of his grasp when he tried to reach for them. "I just thought... look, I may not like your subject best but I really respect you, and I owe you a lot, obviously, and with Draco giving you trouble I thought the least I could do was not raise my hand and announce that I was a lousy son too--"
Harry broke off, a little bit horrified with himself. He hadn't meant to say that Draco was a lousy son.
Snape, however, had latched onto something else. "You do not owe me," he stated, lacing his fingers together now. "I would like you to respect me, but I would not like to think you do so out of gratitude. If you set yourself to learn Potions, Harry, do it because you will need the knowledge in the future, not because your father is a Potions Master." Snape waited until he had absorbed that. "Are we clear?"
Harry smiled. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks."
Snape's expression remained rather severe. "Now, as to disappointing me. Perhaps you could explain why you failed to attend your Charms lesson this morning?"
Harry's jaw dropped. "You know about that?"
"One of the disadvantages of having your father on staff." Snape shrugged. "Have you an explanation? Madame Pomfrey said she hadn't seen you."
"You checked if I'd been hurt?"
"Yes, of course I checked! It isn't like you to miss your lessons..." Snape's voice hardened. "And I do not particularly care how difficult it is for you to work out new spells, you will not deal with it by skipping class."
"It wasn't that." Harry shifted in his chair. "I just needed to talk to Professor Sprout about the well-wish, that's all. I wanted to have it ready for when I come down tomorrow."
"Ah." Snape huffed slightly. "You are planning to grace us with your presence, then?"