Fix You

"What the hell are you doing here?" He blurted out without thinking. He had assumed Dumbledore would be the one to come for him, or an Auror even. Anybody but Snape.

"Language, Potter!" Snape growled, shooting daggers at him. Harry stared back at him with an equal amount of disgust, not even bothering to apologize. He wasn't just done allowing the Dursley's to treat him like dirt. He was never going to let anybody walk all over him again, especially this man who had never said a nice thing to him in six years.

Snape stood and began moving toward the door. "Lead the way to your bedroom, Potter. I don't have all day, you know." Harry just continued to stare at him in extreme dislike for a long moment before leading the man up the stairs to his room.

He swung open the door and walked across the room to sit on his bed, which was actually just a mattress on the floor. He used to have a frame, but his uncle had broken it throwing him down onto the bed one night. "What in Salazar's name are you doing Potter? Get your trunk packed you insolent boy!"

Harry took a deep breath. "Professor, I need to talk to you about something." He looked up at Snape and was surprised to see a flicker of surprise pass over the other man's face before it was replaced with the same emotionless expression he always wore.

"Very well, Potter." He said, knocking the junk out of his rickety desk chair and sitting down. He looked around the room with a mixture of curiosity and disgust showing on his face. Never before had he been self- conscience about the way his bedroom looked, but he sure as hell was now.

The only pieces of furniture were the mattress on the floor, the desk chair, a wobbly old desk, and a small closet. He could hardly use the closet, as it was full of Dudley's broken possessions that he refused to part with. His clothes instead littered the floor, clean and dirty mixed together in large piles across the room. Magazines, newspapers, parchment, quills, and candy wrappers were thrown into the mix as well.

His desk was completely bare except for the i-pod and i-dock that Chad had stolen for him, a notebook and some pens, the picture of his parents, and a few lighters. On the wall above his desk, he had made a sort of collage of memories from this summer.

There was a picture of him and Andy, the ticket stubs to a rock concert the group had gone to one night, a ridiculous cartoon drawing of what was supposed to be Amber having an orgy with a group of guys, a picture of the night they had all temporarily dyed their hair pink, ticket stubs for two or three different movies they had seen, a sex coupon with his and Megan's names on it, a picture of himself and Hanna both passed out with permanent marker all over their bodies, a piece of notebook paper with a crazy song they had all made up during one of their drunken escapades, and his favorite, a giant group picture from a party at Andy's house.

These were all memories he wanted to hold onto forever. This was a life that he did not want to give up. These people were family to him. The Weasley's, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Neville, and Luna were as well, but they got to see him eight months out of the year. He loved hanging out with them, but they were boring compared to his new friends.

He blushed as he realized that Snape was carefully studying the collage in front of him, his mouth moving as he read the words to the song they had made up.

"We are not a group of whores. We are not a group of whores. We are not a group of whores. BUT WE LIKE TO DO IT! We are not a group of whores. We are not a group of whores. We are not a group of whores. BUT WE LIKE TO DO IT! (Especially Amber!) Go and call your bitches, cause there's gonna be a party and we gonna get laid. We are not your whore's. BUT WE LIKE TO DO IT!"

It was a pretty lame song by any standard, but they had thought that they had managed to write a number one hit that night. He recalled how they had danced around the house singing it for hours. Now Snape was reading it and he might just die from embarrassment.

"Um, sir?" He cleared his throat, watching as Snape stopped reading and turned to face him. "I was wondering if I could just stay here for the rest of the summer?"

He waited for Snape to begin lecturing him about how ungrateful he was, about how he had taken time out of his day to come collect his ass, blah blah blah. What he was not expecting was what came out of his mouth next. "Why would you want to stay here, Potter?" Well, it looked as if Snape had finally realized the kind of life he had here. After years of accusing him of being nothing but a spoiled brat.

"Finally figured it out, have you?" He said coolly. "I'm not the pampered little prince who gets his every heart's desire. What a surprise."

Snape's eyes flashed angrily. "Speak to me like that again and I will make sure your life here becomes much worse." Harry said nothing, just glared at the man in front of him. He had never loathed another human being so much in his entire life, except maybe his uncle.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally stood. "I shall go speak to the headmaster about your request, Potter."

"I want to come." He said, standing as well. No way was he letting Snape go alone. He probably wouldn't even really go talk to the man.

"Very well, Potter. Take my arm."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise, but gripped the man's arm. Snape turned on his heel and they apparated, landing in front of a tiny house in the middle of nowhere. It was smaller than any home he had ever seen, aside from Hagrid's. The paint was peeling off of the sides of the house, the shutters were boarded up and rickety, and the grass had not been mowed in an extremely long time.

"This is where Dumbledore lives?" He asked in awe. Not because of the state of the house, but because he was surprised that Dumbledore was not staying at Hogwarts.

"Professor Dumbledore, Potter. And yes, teachers have a life outside of teaching you brainless idiots." Harry glared at him, but blushed a tiny bit just the same. He had assumed that the teachers stayed at the school year around.

They came to the door and Snape knocked. Not a moment later, the door swung open to reveal a house elf. "Professor Snape and Harry Potter are here master Dumbledore sirs!" The house elf called out as she led them into a sitting room.

As predicted, it was as shaggy as the outside of the house. The walls were lined with hundreds of books and the furniture was purple, of course. Harry admired how cozy the tiny sitting room looked, though. Dumbledore himself was sitting in a great armchair, reading the Daily Prophet and popping lemon drops into his mouth every few seconds.

"Thank you very much, Etha." Dumbledore said. The elf bowed deeply before disappearing through a door on the right without another word. House elves were so weird.

"Well, this is indeed a surprise Severus! I was under the impression that you were escorting Harry to the Weasley's."

"I had intended to, until Potter delivered a very surprising request. Very surprising indeed." He drawled

The two men turned to look at him and Harry knew that he was going to have to repeat his request to the headmaster. He assumed that Dumbledore would be happy with his request, as it would further strengthen the blood wards.

"Err..Sir. I was wondering if I could stay with the Dursley's for the rest of the summer. I love staying at the Weasley's, but I don't want to be a burden. The Dursley's have treated me a lot better this summer and I've been able to focus on my studies more." He was totally lying his ass of, but he couldn't very well admit the real reason why he didn't want to leave.

As was expected, the headmaster's eyes twinkled as he finished his story. "That's excellent news, my boy!" He said as he continued to excitedly pop lemon drops into his mouth. "It will be excellent for the wards as well as your academic performance. There is only one problem. Severus, have you told him anything yet?"

Harry turned his gaze to Snape, who he was surprised to see looked extremely uncomfortable. "No, headmaster. I was going to once we arrived at the Weasley's." Oh hell, what was it now? He had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever news they were about to deliver to him.

"Ah, well you see Harry, I think this is a great idea, but the only problem is that it will interfere with your training schedule."

"Training schedule?" He asked. Why couldn't the old man just get to the point?

"A few times a week, Professor Snape was going to come to the Burrow to give you hourly lessons. He can't very well come to Private Drive and do the same….Hmm…I will allow you to spend the remainder of your summer at the Dursley's if you will agree to spend the last two weeks of the summer at Professor Snape's house, where he can then tutor you."

"WHAT!" Surprisingly, this outburst did not come from himself, but from Snape instead. "You are out of your mind, Albus. We will kill each other before the week is over!"

"We hate each other, Professor." He chimed in. There was no way in hell something like this could ever work out. Now that he knew Snape was on their side, he didn't loathe him as much as previous years, but he still didn't like the man. They were still constantly at one another's throats. Dumbledore would have to come scrape them both off of the floor at the end of the two weeks.

The crazy old man only chuckled in response. "It is settled then, you two will spend the last two weeks of the summer together in order to train. Severus, I trust that you will be there to collect him on the appropriate day?"

"Yes." He said through gritted teeth. The anger was even showing in his normally expressionless face. Harry had a feeling that he would love nothing more than to curse the man at that moment.

"It's all set in place then! I hope you have a good summer, Harry." He said, patting him on the shoulder.

Snape grabbed his arm and they apparated for the second time, landing back in his tiny bedroom.

"Are you sure you should not have been in Slytherin, Potter? Tell many more lies like that with a straight face and people will begin to wonder"

Harry stared up at Snape as if he had just lost his head. That was by far the largest sentence he had ever spoken to him and it wasn't even something rude! Was the man actually giving him a compliment or was he secretly making fun of him?

"I didn't lie-" He began.

"Nice try, Potter. If I am not mistaken, I would say your reason for staying has less to do with your studies and more on that." He said, pointing to the group picture.

As he studied it, Harry hoped that he would suddenly become blind and ignore the way everybody was holding a bottle of alcohol with their arm raised in the air, him included.

"They're my friends." He said simply.

"What of Granger and Weasley?" He asked. Harry was beginning to get annoyed. Since when did this man give a damn about his personal life? He was obviously attempting to make fun of him.

"I can have more than two friends, you know." He snapped.

Snape was suddenly inches away from him, giving him his signature glare. He opened his mouth to say something, no doubt a nasty remark. Before he could get whatever it was out, his expression suddenly changed into something unrecognizable. "What's wrong with your eyes Potter?" He asked, staring into his dilated pupils.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! Of course Snape would notice! He had to think of a believable excuse quickly. "I'm just tired." He mumbled. He pulled himself away from the man's gaze and looked down at the ground, wishing he would just leave it alone already. He couldn't afford to have anybody find out about his drug usage. There was no way he'd be allowed to stay here then.

"Staying out all night does that to you."

"I wasn't out all night. I had just gone for a walk a little bit before you decided to show up." He argued. Truth was, he was perfectly fine with allowing Snape to think his eyes looked like that from no sleep. It was certainly better than the real reason.

Snape gave him a look that said "How stupid do you think I am?". "Show me to the door, Potter. I cannot tolerate to be in your presence for another second. My wand might accidently decide to curse you."

"My pleasure." He flung open the door and the two walked down the stairs, Harry pretty much running. As he reached the bottom, Aunt Petunia came flying out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"What are you still doing here?" She asked nastily. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but closed it as she finished her sentence. "You were supposed to take the boy and leave." He stood there in shock, staring at his aunt. Never before had he heard her actually address a fellow Witch or Wizard before, she always pretended that they were not in the house.

"The boy is staying, Petunia." He spat out her name. Harry assumed he knew her first name from checking with Dumbledore before he had entered the house.

"I don't want him here, Snape. He is rude, disrespectful, and thinks he can do whatever he wants. He's also turned into a drunk, but you would know all about that, with your father being what he was and all. I can see right now that you've managed to turn out just like him. A pathetic loser who has nobody except for himself. A coward. " She spat right back at him.

His eyes widened in shock. Nobody had ever dared to speak to Snape that way for fear of being turned into a pile of watering mush on the ground. His aunt didn't even seem to care as she continued to mumble obscenities underneath her breath.

He turned to face Snape and was not surprised to see him on the verge of exploding. He knew very little about the man, but he would never forget what he had seen in the pensive last year. Snape had been bullied his entire life, changing him into the man he was today. He didn't tolerate shit from anybody, no matter who they were. That was the one and only thing that Harry respected about him.

His aunt's comment seemed to have affected him deeply. He had no idea what that had been about. It made it seem like she had known Snape when he was younger. That would be impossible, as his aunt wasn't a Witch. He was pretty sure she wasn't a Squib or anything either.

He recalled his Occlumency lessons from last year and the one time he had managed to invade Snape's mind. There was one image in particular that managed to stand out to him. A little boy sat crying in the corner as a man screamed at a crying woman. It all made sense now. Snape's father really had been a drunk.

He hated Snape, but even he could sympathize with him now. He even kind of understood his loathing for everything around him. It seemed like he had been through a lot in his life. Harry only knew a few things such as the fact that his father was a drunk, he had been bullied in school, he used to be a Death eater, and he was now a spy. Nobody should have to go through those things and he was pretty sure that wasn't even the half of it.

Snape was shaking with anger, his lips were pale white and thin. He could tell that he was only seconds away from whipping his wand out and murdering her on the spot. He turned back to his aunt and stared at her in disgust.

"I suggest you shut the fuck up right now. I don't know him that well, but I know him better than you do. He is brave and you are nothing but a coward who has no fucking life outside of pleasing your fat ass husband and your spoiled child. I have no idea how you possibly know anything about his past, but you have no right to bring it up if you do. Oh and he does have people other than himself. A hell of a lot more people than you do."

He was met with a hard slap across the face as he finished his little speech. He didn't even react as he stumbled backward and felt someone catch him. He was too shocked to speak or hit back. His aunt had not touched him in years.

He suddenly became aware of the fact that it was Snape who had caught him as he almost fell. That it was Snape who had just witnessed the altercation with his aunt. That it was Snape who he had just defended. That was all it took for him to shove past his aunt and bolt up the stairs.

He was embarrassed beyond words that his aunt had hit him in front of his asshole of a Potions teacher. He would probably get made fun of for the rest of his life now.

He closed the door behind him and started throwing things at the wall. When that didn't do the trick, he sent his fist flying at the nearest wall. It made a loud crack and his hand began throbbing in pain. Despite the pain, he felt great. This was the best way to relieve his built up anger without resorting to measures that would award him a lifelong stay in Azkaban. He continued to pound the wall, no longer caring what was going on around him.

He was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled away from the wall. He looked up and of course it was Snape who had pulled him away. He was suddenly angry at the man for stopping him. He raised his fist to begin pounding at the wall again, but it was seized rather harshly this time. In a fast motion, Snape had managed to toss him down on his bed. This made him snap back into his senses completely.

He looked to see that he had made a huge hole in the wall and his knuckles were bleeding a little. "Fuck." He exclaimed, burying his head in his hands. He didn't want this man to see him weak like this. He didn't want anybody to see him like this, but Snape was much worse. This story would probably circulate around the school at the beginning of the year. As if he didn't already have enough on his plate.

"That was foolish, Potter." Snape said quietly. He said nothing, unable to keep his emotions under control at the moment. A long moment passed without a single sound being uttered. "Give me your hand."

He looked up and slowly held out his hand, trusting the man not to further injure him. He heard a loud crack and a second later his hand was mended. Snape mumbled another spell to take care of the dried blood on his hand. His knuckles were still busted up and a bruise was forming, but he didn't care about that.

"I will return on the fourteenth of August. Be ready so I do not dramatically injure your aunt. If you wish to leave early, just send a message along to somebody in the Order. Somebody will come collect you."

With that, he strode from the room without another word. Harry stared after him, in complete shock over the day's events. He badly wanted to know how his aunt knew Snape, but he didn't want to face her ever again after what had just happened.

He sighed and lay back on his bed to catch up on some much needed sleep. Before he drifted off, he turned to look at where he had just made the hole in the wall. It was gone.