* * * * *
                              
There were two weeks left until the holidays. Harry woke up the same way he did every morning. Sirius had fallen through the veil again, but Snape was the one who stopped him from rescuing Sirius. He hated Snape for it. He wanted to blame him, but he could not. Snape was the reason Voldemort did not have the prophecy, and none of his friends died, instead of just Sirius. He went downstairs to the common room and sat by the ashy remains of the fire. 
                              
Snape. He taunted Sirius. He made him want to leave the house and still shows no regret for what happened. He takes pleasure in tormenting me. Harry thought vengefully. He knew he should not be thinking about it, especially since he had Snape first thing this morning. Nevertheless, when he got to Potions, his feelings toward Snape had not changed. Snape set a difficult antidote to the poison they made last class. Harry's was awful. Nothing Hermione could say would help it. By the end of class, his potion was mucky brown instead of green. Snape came over and Vanished the contents. 
                              
"Potter, I want you to write up the correct composition of this potion and explain the effects of every step in detail on my desk next class! And it had better be right!" Snape sneered with a kind of pleasure. 
                              
Harry looked at him, rage burning. He knew he had to control himself. He sat on at his desk and before he could stop himself....
                              
"Yeah, whatever..." he mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
                              
He knew the second he said it there was going to be hell to pay as the stunned class stopped what they were doing and looked over. Snape looked almost happy at the site of him losing control. 
                              
"Detention Potter, and stay after class," he said, triumphantly.
                              
The rest of the class started putting their stuff away and left the class quickly to avoid being caught up in Snape's wrath. Before Hermione left, she told him to keep his temper, but he was not listening. 
                              
Snape came around to his desk and said, "Follow me, Potter." 
                              
Harry followed him into his office. 
                              
"This is going to stop! I don't know how your other professors deal with you, but I will not tolerate this behavior! I can and will remove you from my class if you do not improve!" Snape shouted. "Not trying because it's too easy? You have got a lot to learn. You are just like your father, so arrogant...." 
                              
"I am not!" Harry shouted. He did not care if Snape gave him a week's worth of detentions. He was not going to take it from him anymore.
                              
"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT TO ME!" Snape roared.
                              
"WHY NOT!?! You finally got what you wanted, didn't you?" Harry yelled angrily, though his voice was cracking with emotion.
                              
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN, POTTER!?!" Snape demanded, surveying Harry thoroughly.
                              
"Don't you get it? You won! James is dead. Sirius is dead. My mudblood mother is dead! You got your revenge! Or do I need to pay for what they did to you, too?" Harry snarled, and noticed that he had unconsciously pulled out his wand.
                              
Snape did not say anything. He just stared, as though thinking about what Harry said. It might have been Harry's imagination, but his face fell slightly. Harry, however, was too angry to care. 
                              
"May I go, now? Sir?" Harry asked and tried to stop shaking in anger.
                              
Snape just nodded. Harry went quickly upstairs to lunch. He was still fuming. The next few classes Snape did not say a word to him or give him a detention. Harry was not stupid enough to ask about it. 
                              
As Christmas got closer, the teachers found it harder to keep the attention of the students. They gave most of the students a break. The fifth and seventh years, however, had mountains of papers to do. Ginny never had time to hang around them, unless it was Quidditch practice or they helped her with her homework. One night, Ron and Hermione let Ginny and Colin study while they helped the other prefects put up decorations before the train left. Harry had stayed with Ginny by the fire, while she studied. When it got late, Ginny decided that she had enough studying and went to bed. Harry watched her leave, and for reasons he could not explain, he wanted her to stay, but he went back to staring at the fire. Neville came up and unexpectedly sat in the chair next to Harry.