A/N: This story won't make any sense unless you've read It's Mutual 1. This is heading into Harry's Seventh year at Hogwarts. It is leaving off about a week after the first story left off.

Note: This isn't going to be a Harry(son) Severus(father) centered fic. That was what It's Mutual 1 was for. There will be a lot of interaction between the two, but that that isn't the focus of this story. This year, it's preparing Harry for the war. (one of the reasons that this is a different story).

Anyway, the idea I had for It's Mutual being a two-parter, It's not. It's going to be, for sure, a three-parter. The third story will be a year after Harry's graduation from Hogwarts. I'm still deciding whether I'll have a fourth part, but I'm thinking I will (because of the events I have planned for the third part). I'd tell you now, but that would end up telling you what's going to happen!

Anyway, parts 2, 3 and 4 will be about 10-20 chapters each. I'm still outlining 'em.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this far! I wasn't going to start putting this up for a week or two, but what the house looks like just popped into my head, and I had to. I do not know when the next chapter will come up. Within two weeks, for sure.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize from Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling. Any other characters you don't recognize are mine.

Chapter 1 - A Place of my Own

"Well?"

"Well, what, Harry?" Severus asked flatly.

"Did they finish with the wards?"

"On the manor, they did. The wards on Spinner's End will be finished by this evening, and will be set up on floo tomorrow."

"Spinner's End? Why do you bother warding that? I thought the Death Eaters know where it is!"

"They do. Or rather, they did. To anyone who doesn't know the wards, it is now a bare patch of land."

"Wouldn't they figure there is something there, then? Since there was something there?"

"The local muggle newspaper reported a fire," Severus said plainly. "Don't worry, Harry. Anyway, we'll just be stopping by Spinner's End. There, too, are bad memories."

"Yeah, there would be with Death Eaters going and out of the place."

"That is not what I meant. I grew up on Spinner's End."

"Wait, what? I thought you inherited the Manor from your mother . . . wouldn't . . ."

"I had a father, too, Harry."

"Er . . . of course. It's just, Spinner's End sounds . . . not nice. Why would you live there if you had a manor?"

"If I had any choice, I would have lived in the manor," Severus replied flatly, indicating the end of that particular conversation. Harry was quiet for a few minutes before he started up again, to Severus' annoyance.

"Well, can we go?"

"Now?"

"Well . . . yeah. Why not? You're not doing anything, I'm not doing anything . . ."

"You could be studying." Harry glared at his father.

"Severus, summer just started. I want to see the manor," Harry whined.

"You know, I'm beginning to think I spoil you."

"Spoil me? Yeah, sure. You work me to death some days!"

"Perhaps I should start 'working you to death' more often. All right, let's go."

"Yes! Hey, if it's in good enough condition, could we stay there instead of here?"

"When it's cleaned up."

"Does that mean I get my own room?"

"Harry, you are acting like a toddler. Of course, you get your own room, you dunderhead. What do you think I'd do? Shove you in a closet?" he sneered.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first," Harry said, his good mood slightly diminished. Not enough to get him to stay still, though. "How are we getting there?"

"It is connected through the floo, from here and Hogwarts." Harry was at the fireplace by the time he said the word "connected", floo powder in his hand. He looked at Severus with expectance, and Severus sighed. "Snape Manor."

Harry repeated this, stepping into the floo. When he arrived at the manor, Harry couldn't tell what was worse: the ash from the floo or the dust in whatever room he just entered.

"Ew," he said as Severus ran into him.

"You could have at least moved," grumbled Severus.

"I was afraid of being attacked by dust bunnies," Harry said with a serious face, earning a glare from his father. "It's disgusting."

"What did you expect? Magic hasn't been used here in a very long time. We . . ."

"Well, let's get cleaning! Wait, I'm not supposed to use magic," Harry grumbled. Severus murmured a charm that rid the room of the extremely thick dust. "No fair."

"Open all the windows, I'll take care of the dust," Severus said, then disappeared through a door to the right. Harry gladly opened the windows. The entire room smelled like . . . well, like . . . something that died. Before leaving the room, Harry examined the stone-floored room.

In the center of the room was a couch, two love seats, and two chairs arranged around a coffee table. Afraid of what he might encounter, Harry lifted the seat cushion on one of the chairs and was grateful that nothing attacked him. He checked under the other cushions just in case.

There was an empty bookshelf on the wall across from the fireplace, and a desk right next to the bookshelf. Luckily, there was nothing but a few spiders in the desk. Harry was tempted to take the spiders and put them outside, but he didn't know if Severus could use them for potions or something, so he left them.

Exiting through the door that Severus did before, Harry ended up in the kitchen. He had to admit, it was a pretty decent kitchen. After opening the windows, Harry started opening cupboards and drawers, and was disappointed to find nothing but more spiders in them. Harry told himself that he shouldn't have expected it to be filled when no one had lived here for years.

Harry was starting to wonder where all the little, annoying, magical pests were. Headquarters had loads of them, even still. The only living things that seemed to be in this house were spiders. Not that Harry was complaining, but he did find it weird. After walking around the dining table (which could easily fit ten people), Harry went through another door on the opposite side of the room.

Here was stairs and a corridor. Automatically, Harry went to the cupboard under the stairs and opened it. Looking in, he noticed it was slightly larger than the one that he considered his bedroom for ten years.

"How long does it take to open a few windows? You have what, two rooms done?" Severus came up behind him and asked. "And what are you doing?" Harry blushed.

"I don't know. And I was just looking around," Harry said defensively.

"You'll have time to look around later. Right now, the windows need to be opened." Harry grudgingly complied, but he did take a good look at the bedrooms. He assumed the one with all the boxes of books and things was Severus' room. One of the rooms really caught his eye.

The floor in this room was stone, as was most of the house. It was on the second floor in the corner, so one of the windows was facing the back of the house, and one of the windows was facing the side. Both windows were seat windows. The bed, which seemed to be connected to the wall, was several feet off the floor, and there was a built in step ladder. There wasn't a closet, but there was a big wardrobe and dresser. In addition to that, there was a bookshelf and a desk.

Wanting to ask Severus about the room, Harry quickly opened all the windows on the second and third floors and the attic. The attic freaked Harry out slightly; Severus obviously didn't think to get rid of the dust for some reason. Once cleaned up, it wouldn't really look like an attic.

Back on the ground floor, Harry found Severus in the kitchen, running the water.

"Severus . . ."

"You found a room you like," Severus finished.

"Well, yeah. How did you know?"

"Because it does not take half an hour to open the windows in this house."

"Well, you never know. It is kind of big."

"Big? It is roughly the same size as headquarters."

"Well, it's the biggest house I've ever been in."

"Pureblood standards, this is small."

"Oh. Well, weren't the Blacks . . ."

"Yes, but there was more than one Black household at one point."

"Oh. Well, do you want to know which . . ."

"Let me guess. It the corner room on the second floor."

"Again, how did you know?"

"If I was your age, it is the room I'd choose."

"Was the room with all the boxes in it yours?"

"Yes. They are my belongings that I had at Spinner's End."

"That's all you had?"

"Most of my belongings stayed at Hogwarts."

"Oh. So I can have the room?"

"Of course," replied Severus, starting to get a little irritated.

"Sorry. I've never had my own room before. It's kind of exciting."

"I see. I took care of the spiders while you were fooling around. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about any magical pests . . ."

"Yeah, why is that?"

"You should know that Harry. You are going to be in seventh year."

"Er . . . because there isn't enough magical energy for the pests to survive on?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Now, back to what I was saying. With all the dust and spiders gone, all we really need to do is . . . well, set things up. We need to make a list of what we need to buy."

Three hours later, they had a long list of what they needed. The list included kitchenware, new curtains, bed sheets . . . pretty much everything.

"We'll visit Hogsmede tomorrow," Severus said before Harry could start asking the annoying questions again.

"Okay. Would Spinner's End be finished?" Harry asked. Severus checked the time.

"Yes. We'll take a quick stop there, but then we are going back to headquarters. There is a meeting tonight."

"Okay."

Harry decided he didn't like Spinner's End very much, but it gave him an idea. Before they left, Harry told it to Severus, who, after some thought, said it's put it past the Order at the meeting that night.

Both wizards arrived, very happy, to a headquarters full of people.