The Venus Fly Trap - Part 2
Jun. 6th, 2010 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexcasterTitle: The Venus Fly Trap
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alexcaster
Fest: Snarry-A-Thon
Other pairings/threesome: past Severus/Lucius and Severus/Sirius
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~18,000
Warning(s): Brief mention of past abuse
Prompt:355 - Minerva enters Severus in the new Wizard bachelor auction
Summary: When Harry bids on Severus in the new Wizard bachelor auction to benefit the children of St Mungo’s, can he convince Severus to not only enjoy the date but also go on a second one with him?
A/N: Thanks to my beta and the wonderful mods!
Severus stared incredulously at Potter. He could still feel the lingering strength of the other man’s emotions and it was overwhelming. Potter loved him. Potter loved him. It was too much for him to comprehend, yet he couldn’t refute it. He had seen it, felt it, so clearly.
“You love me,” Severus said dumbly.
Potter laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I can stop if you’d like…well, I can try to stop.”
Potter was babbling. And Potter was nervous. Severus nearly laughed, but he held it back with all the self control he had. Potter was in love with him, and Potter was nervous that Severus would reject him.
Severus had to appreciate how ludicrous the situation was. Had Potter never looked at himself in the mirror? Or maybe Potter was touched in the head. That would certainly explain how it could possibly be that Potter was in love with him.
“You’re in love with me,” he said again just to try the words out on his tongue. They tasted nice; a bit like champagne.
Potter started babbling again and very rapidly at that. It was almost amusing. “Yes, truly sorry about that. I know you can’t stand me and hate that I am, but I had to show you that I wasn’t doing this out of vengeance or anything like that. I’m sure the feeling will pass. Well, actually they haven’t passed through all these years but then on the bright side I’m in Romania all the time and you won’t have to deal with my unwanted advances. Just for today though, since we have this date and all, but then I promise you I’ll get out of your hair.”
Severus was usually a man that knew what he needed to do. When he was younger, he needed to be acknowledged and to be revered. That was why he had joined Voldemort, and that was a brilliant idea. When he had found that he couldn’t stand for Voldemort’s actions and beliefs, he had needed to right his horrendous lapse of judgment. That was why he had become a spy, and had spent the next few centuries under constant stress and worry and had let himself get cursed, hexed, tortured, and buggered bloody. After the war was over and his mistakes were finally paid for in full, he had needed to help with the rebuilding. That was he was had contributed magically and physically to the task, and that was also the reason he had agreed to stay on as a Hogwarts professor even though it made him bloody miserable.
But now, now he didn’t need to do anything! He hardly needed to remain at Hogwarts since the times were good and he was sure Minerva could easily find a replacement for him. He had no one he needed to spy on, no wrong he needed to right. Severus didn’t know what to do with himself. If there was ever a time to do what he wanted, then it would be now.
But that was the issue wasn’t it? What exactly did he want? He didn’t spend that much and so he had enough from his teaching salary to live pretty comfortably and only have to take the occasional brewing job. He wasn’t one for the excesses of life or any such extravagance. When he really thought about it, there wasn’t much that he wanted materially. He supposed that the thing he could possibly want most would be someone, a partner, of his own, but he had given up on that notion a long time ago. It just simply didn’t seem feasible an option.
But now, Potter was here sitting in front of him telling him that he loved him. Was it selfish or absurd for Severus to feel a tiny bit happy about that? It certainly was vain though. He had never looked at Potter as anything more than a student and a nuisance, and perhaps a comrade when they fought side by side during battle, but nothing more. He had never had any notions towards the younger man. In fact, he made it a point to not have notions of any kind towards his students whether they were current or past.
So why was he a bit happy that Potter seemed to want him? Severus decided that it must be because he was so deprived of companionship that he would cling to any that he could get. And in terms of what he could get, Harry Potter definitely wasn’t the worst thing. In fact, he was sure that if anyone found out, they would surely wish death upon him for stealing the great Potter’s attention.
“Severus?” Potter asked as he waved a hand in front of Severus’ face. “Oh god, are you having a stroke? I’ve done it, haven’t I? I’ve finally annoyed you so much that you’re stroking out.”
The hand frantically waving just inches from his nose and the panicked tone of Potter’s voice was too much, and before Severus knew it he was in a fit of hysterics. The laughter was just bubbling out of him, and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it. He didn’t even want to stop it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like this and wasn’t in a state of crazed stress.
Through the tears of laughter in his eyes, he could see Potter sitting in front of him looking shocked and horrified at the same time. He should stop this ridiculous behavior, he knew he should, but the look on Potter’s face only served to make him laugh harder. By the time their waiter came back with their food, Severus had a stitch in his side.
Harry took their food and thanked their waiter before dismissing the man in favor of Snape, who was currently in hysterics in front of him. He had expected perhaps anger or even a hex or two, but certainly not this. It seemed that Snape had finally lost it. All those years as a spy, living under unimaginable stress and hardship, and it was finally Harry’s confession that did the man in. Figures, Harry thought gloomily.
On one hand, he was a bit upset that his confession of love had been met with such outright laughter, but on the other hand he was genuinely worried about Snape. There was always the possibility that the man had been hexed or cursed, thus resulting in his current state after all. “Severus? Are you alright?” he asked when Snape finally seemed to calm down and was now only wheezing with the last vestiges of his laughter.
“Am I alright? I should be the one to ask you that!” Snape said between gasps of laughter as he held onto his side.
Well, at least one of them found this amusing. “I don’t find this very funny,” Harry grumbled. He really didn’t see how laying all his feelings bare and then getting laughed at was funny. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was very unfunny.
“Really? You don’t think this is funny?” Snape laughed some more. “You’re Harry bloody Potter, the Boy Who Everyone Loves, the bloody Savior of all things small and furry, and you want to date me!”
“Well, yes, that was the general idea,” said Harry, “but I still don’t see how that’s funny.”
“Are you daft?!”
“Not usually, but at this moment I’m feeling a bit like perhaps I am…”
Snape broke out into laughter again. Oh what joy. At least he was able to entertain the other man with how pathetic he was. That was him, Harry Potter, ever the entertaining date.
“You really want to date me…”
“More than you can ever know.”
Snape’s laughter had died down, and now a contemplative look was crossing his face. Harry didn’t know whether to cast a shield spell over his bits or not. The man could be having a much delayed reaction is all.
Severus considered this. Potter was definitely being sincere, and he knew that chances like this would never come around again even if he had never considered the notion of dating Potter before. If anything, just doing it to see the looks on everyone’s faces alone would be worth it.
Severus still marveled at the situation. Potter was young and fit and handsome and could probably have his pick of anyone he laid his eyes on, and yet, here he was, sitting in front of Severus a nervous, bumbling wreck. That had to say something, didn’t it?
Severus still had his doubts though. Would it even work? They could hardly stand each other’s presence during Potter’s Hogwarts years. What was to say that they wouldn’t be at each other’s throats? Well, to be fair, Potter had actually been pretty decently amicable so far. But what if Potter got sick of him after the first date? You always want what you can’t have after all, and now that Potter had a taste of him, then wouldn’t it be natural for the young man to conquer and then lose interest now that the conquest has been successful? Severus questioned this. Youth was such a fickle thing, and Potter certainly was young.
However, hadn’t Potter said that he had been in love with Severus for ages? That his feelings hadn’t faded all these years and that he could only promise to try and forget them? No, Severus didn’t think that Potter would get bored of him and simply dump him. He had felt the truth of that when he had had free reign of Potter’s mind. This was serious for Potter.
What would people think? He was so much older than Potter, and besides that, he was as everyone had always called him, nothing but a greasy git. He was ugly, he knew that. His nose was too large, his skin was sallow, and his fingers were always stained thanks to all those potions he brewed on a daily basis. He was definitely not the most attractive prospect for a date.
“People will talk,” Severus finally said.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Potter said with resignation. “I’ll try not to let your name get dragged through the mud with mine.”
Severus blinked. There was no humor in Potter’s voice, and it seemed that Potter truly did believe that. How did the man that everyone clamored around and constantly fawned over have such a low opinion about himself? It was ludicrous. “Potter, it’s not my name I’m worried about. Half of the people here still think that I was working for Voldemort all along and that I was never a spy for the light. There’s no way my name can get dragged any lower really.”
Potter looked angry for a second. “Who cares what those miserable sods think?! They’re nothing but parasites living off of other people’s lives and misfortunes. They know nothing about you, or how brave and loyal and honorable you are.”
Potter said it all with such conviction that Severus was a bit thrown back. “You…think highly of me?” He hadn’t meant for it to come out so unsure of a question, but that was how he felt. He was used to people sneering at him with distrust, so this almost unwavering faith that Potter seemed to have for him was startling. The only two people that had ever truly believed in him fully and completely were Albus and Minerva.
“I think the world of you, Severus,” Potter said quietly.
And Severus believed him. He truly did. Besides his once fleeting and fickle sexual relationship with Lucius, Black was the only person that Severus had ever thought of as a romantic prospect. Lucius had always been good to him, protective in an almost paternal sort of way, and Severus had known even back then that Lucius only slept with him out of some twisted sort of loyalty they had between them. After a few weeks though, it was apparent to the both of them that what they were currently pursuing wouldn’t work, and that it would only ruin their friendship.
Then there was Severus’ entirely inappropriate attraction to Black. The man was wild and unpredictable, beautiful and free. As a young man, he had found Sirius Black very appealing indeed. The attraction didn’t go both ways though, and in the end Black had used him for nothing but sex. It was an appalling thing to do, but Severus didn’t know why he hadn’t expected that sort of behavior from Black. When Potter and his friends found out, Black had dumped him, quite publicly. The things Black had said, all the crude things that Severus knew were true, broke him. Yes, he did love sucking Black’s cock. Yes, he did so enjoy having Black inside of him. And yes, he was blindly in love with the man and would have done just about anything that Black had asked.
The funny thing though, was that all this never made Severus ashamed before. What they had between them, the things they did, had been beautiful to Severus. It wasn’t until Potter and his gang surrounded him, calling in all the people that constantly surrounded and looked up to them, that Severus knew he was mistaken. It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t clean. And most of all, it wasn’t treasured, not at all. The things Black had whispered to him in bed while they made love were nothing but pretty little lies told to lure him into submission. He felt dirty.
The public ridicule, the weight of the things Black had said to him as he taunted Severus in front of his friends, that had broken something inside of him that even Lucius’ soft touches and gentle kisses afterwards couldn’t mend. He was an ugly git and it was presumptuous of him to think he could bed not only the beauty of Slytherin and then the poster boy of Gryffindor. He simply wasn’t good enough for that. Black had made sure to drive that home, along with the point that Severus would never be anything more than an ugly Slytherin whore, eager to spread his legs for any man.
Black had taken what they had and had turned it into something so vile that Severus had never forgiven him for. The only good thing that came out of it all was that Severus saw what a true friend Lucius was. Lucius, who was cold and regal to everyone else but him, had spent countless nights in his bed, just holding him and telling him that he was beautiful. For that, he would have given his life to the other man if he had ever asked.
Lucius never did though. Lucius had always protected Severus, even when they were grown and working within the ranks of Voldemort’s lackeys. Up to those final days before his cover was blown when he had sent Potter to safety on his only portkey.
Those few days had been the worst of what he suffered. Disloyalty was not something that Voldemort took kindly to, and the Dark Lord had seen to it that Severus paid dearly for his trespasses. He can’t remember exactly what and how many curses and hexes were placed upon him, for all he could remember was the blazing haze of pain that was like a constant throb. It never stopped. Severus was sure he was going to die in there, and quite messily so, but they had taken his wand from him and tortured him until he was too weak to fight back or even think about using any wandless magic.
After three days of being passed around as the party favor of choice at the unending gathering that Voldemort had thrown in mock celebration of Severus’ revealed loyalties, Lucius had finally wheedled his way into convincing Voldemort to give Severus to him for the night. It was no secret that they were friends, and when Lucius told Voldemort that he had taken a personal offense to being betrayed by his best friend, Voldemort had not questioned it.
Severus had expected to suffer at Lucius’ hands, but that was a given. He did not expect his friend to show mercy, for that would only get the both of them killed. Lucius did, however, and Severus had played the part through, writhing and screaming his throat raw for Lucius even when the curses were only for show and barely tickled him. It was a risky play, but Lucius had made it in order to spare him some pain, if only for a little while.
The Dark Lord did so enjoy his public shows. The Death Eaters, the sick lot of them, weren’t much better. They enjoyed it, the pain and the torture. Lucius never had though. Severus knew the man well enough to know that Lucius never truly enjoyed such blood sports. That wasn’t to say that Lucius was a good man though. No, that would not be true. Lucius was cold and calculating. He had no qualms about killing, but he was methodical about it; clean.
Voldemort never questioned Lucius’ loyalty even if Lucius rarely participated in their games. Lucius had done enough for him, killed enough, that his loyalty was unquestionable. The fact that Lucius volunteered to play torturer when it came to Severus sent a gleam of anticipation and glee that Severus would never be able to forget into Voldemort’s gaze.
The night was long before Lucius had leave to take Severus back to his rooms for personal enjoyment. Severus couldn’t remember much at that point, his body bruised and throbbing everywhere. It was only after Lucius had poured a few healing potions down Severus’ throat that Severus was able to hang onto the slipping threads of consciousness.
“I’m sorry, Sev,” Lucius whispered. His fingers had been so gentle as they caressed Severus’ swollen face. It was a ghost of a touch that Severus could still sometimes feel to this day. “I’m so sorry.”
Lucius had spent the rest of the night alternating between healing Severus as best he could and kissing him, providing comfort with nothing but undemanding soft caresses. There wasn’t much healing that Lucius could actually do without it being obvious, but he had tried nonetheless. Severus could remember that that was the one of the few times he had ever felt loved.
It ended of course. It always ended. It ended when Lucius gave Severus his safety net, his only portkey out of danger, and pressed it along with a wand into Severus’ hand when Voldemort came calling in the middle of the night with Greyback growling at his side. Before the pull of magic tugged Severus out of there through the suffocating hole of magic, the last thing he had seen was a flash of sickening green as his only friend fell.
After that, he couldn’t remember how he had made it back to headquarters. The only thing he knew was that his only friend was dead, and that it was entirely his fault. For once he was glad for his injuries and for the pain, because that meant he didn’t have to think about it. Severus was very good at not thinking about things. It was only in the middle of the night when his eyes were closed that he couldn’t help but remember things because they played out behind his eyelids like a Muggle movie.
Severus blinked, getting rid of the image, to find himself staring at a quietly beseeching Potter still sitting in front of him as if waiting for something. Oh right, it was his turn to say something. What though? What exactly was he supposed to say to Potter? He had never really thought of the other man as anything besides a pain in his arse. He certainly didn’t love Potter, and most definitely not in the way that Potter seemed to love him.
Severus settled on the only thing that he knew to be true. “I don’t love you,” he said.
Potter winced, quite visibly. “I know that. I don’t expect you to.”
“I don’t think I even like you.”
Potter winced again. He hadn’t meant to make Potter wince those last two times. “Unfortunately, that is something that I’m quite aware of as well.”
“Then,” Severus started slowly, “what exactly is it that you expect of me?”
It sounded pathetic to his own ears and made him feel like a fifth year again, but he needed to know. What did Potter want to achieve by bidding on him instead of some fit young thing? If it was sex, then Potter was sorely mistaken because the contract strictly forbade sexual coerce of any kind.
“I don’t expect anything of you,” Potter said as he wrung his hands, “but I would be very happy if you just enjoyed yourself and let me really take you out on a date.”
“A date…”
“Yes, what we’re on right now.”
“You just want a date?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s a pretty big deal already, don’t you think?”
Severus looked Potter up and down. He sort of enjoyed the way Potter squirmed under his scrutiny. Old habits die hard. “Alright,” he said.
Severus had expected perhaps a smile, or even a look of victory and triumph. What he did not expect however, was for Potter to choke on his water and proceed to spit it out all over the table. Splendid.
Harry tried to get control of his breathing. His throat had gone as dry as sand waiting for Severus to say something and he had mistakenly taken a sip of water. He swore never to drink water again. His nose burned and his face was flaming hot from the embarrassment of having literally watered down the table. Snape looked mildly disgusted.
Their waiter was there in a flash, cleaning the mess with a smooth flick of his wand. Harry had never been more grateful for magic, even if their food was beyond repair. “I’ll have different orders out to you in a tad,” said their waiter before he vanished again into the kitchen.
Harry fidgeted in his seat. “That was embarrassing,” he muttered.
Snape looked amused again. The smirk he wore was almost a smile. “You have the table manners of a Kneazle,” Snape informed him.
“I’m sorry,” Harry said pathetically. Merlin, he was miserable at this. He rarely ever dated as it was and so he was already awkward, but then Snape had surprised him. Had the man really agreed to go on this date with Harry and actually try to enjoy it? “Were you serious? About the agreeing part I mean…”
Snape nodded and thanked their waiter when their food appeared again. “That is unless of course you’re planning on spitting up all over again, because then the answer would be no.” Snape calmly forked a pieced of his food into his mouth.
Harry gaped. Did Snape just make a joke? “No more spitting up, I promise.”
Harry tried to contain the undoubtedly idiotic smile that was slowly spreading across his face. Snape had agreed to try and make this a real date, and Snape was joking with him! Feeling a bit triumphant, Harry mightily forked at the side of baby potatoes that came along with his sandwich.
Severus ducked as a small round projectile came at his head. What was Potter trying to do, kill him? He looked up, very much annoyed, at his date. “Potter…”
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” Potter said quickly and quite frantically.
Severus could almost see the scene in slow motion, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. It seemed that he as well was moving at the same appallingly disastrous speed. First he saw Potter panic, and then he saw Potter lift up off of his seat, napkin in hand as he reached for Severus.
Severus supposed it was moot point since he had ducked in time, but Potter made to wipe him off nonetheless, and on the way decided to knock down his glass of merlot, which promptly rolled off the table, spilled its contents onto his lap, and then clattered to the floor. Oh bloody hell.
Harry was out of his seat as quick as he could manage. Oh crap, he thought to himself. First he had practically spit at the man, then launched a small potato at his head, and then proceeded to dump a glass of merlot into his lap. There was no way that Snape was ever going to forgive him, let alone want to see him again.
“I’m so sorry!” he nearly yelled as he came over and tried to soak up the merlot with his napkin. Snape reached down to stop him, but he couldn’t just leave the other man like this! It was his fault after all!
He tried, he really tried, but the liquid seemed to be seeping too quickly into Severus’ trousers. Harry fumbled with his napkin, stealing Snape’s from the table as well when his own was too damp to hold anymore. He knew how hard it was to get wine stains out of fabric (thanks to a very long lecture from Hermione when he had spilled some red wine onto her white dress) and he tried desperately to rub as much of it off as he could manage.
“Potter, I said stop it!” Snape said severely.
Harry gulped, his hand stilling immediately. “I’m sorry,” he whispered from his position on the floor as he looked up at Snape’s face. The man had to be furious.
What he saw, however, wasn’t a very furious Snape, but instead a very uncomfortable looking Snape. Awkward and uncomfortable. Hm. Well, he supposed he would be uncomfortable too if he were sitting there in wet trousers.
Harry looked down at his hand, which was currently clutching the napkin.
His hand was in Snape’s lap. His hand was on Snape’s crotch. Hm, and what a nice, straining crotch it was, Harry thought with a less than decent smirk. Wait…what?!
Severus sat rigidly, taking deep breathes to calm himself. Either Potter was innocently oblivious, or he was the spawn of Satan. Either that or a Slytherin. Severus couldn’t decide, because Potter’s hand was still in his lap, on his very much tenting crotch. This really couldn’t get any more embarrassing.
“You’re hard,” Potter said with wonder.
Severus wanted to kill himself. Or perhaps Potter. Either would do really at this point. “Potter,” he replied tersely, “you’ve been rubbing at me for the past three minutes. What did you expect would happen?!”
Potter just looked at him and smiled idiotically. Oh great. How had he not noticed after seven years of teaching the boy that Potter was mentally retarded? Perhaps it had only happened after defeating Voldemort. It could just be the after effects of all the curses they traded. Yes, that was perfectly reasonable.
“Potter, we are in public.” Severus tried his best to keep his voice level and calm. “My trousers are wet, and I would really appreciate it if you would kindly retrieve my fallen glass and then get off your knees.”
Severus was quite proud of himself for not mentioning that his trousers were only wet because Potter was an imbecile. It took a lot of self control, that.
Potter shook his head as if to clear whatever haze was in it and nodded. “Yes, of course.” Severus watched as Potter looked around for the glass with a look of confusion on his face before he did the unthinkable.
“Potter! What do you think you’re doing?!” Severus hissed.
“I’m looking for the glass, it’s not here,” Potter said from underneath the table. Had the boy never learned to use drying and summoning spells or something?!
“Ahem,” a voice sounded beside Severus and he looked up to see their waiter looking quite testy. Of course this would be when Potter’s head decided to emerge from underneath the table, looking rather flushed and breathless, kneeling between Severus’ knees. Their waiter, the cheeky bastard, had the nerve to glance pointedly at Severus’ still very much tented crotch.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Harry was beyond mortified. This had to be the worst date ever! Not only had he made a mess of everything, but he had also gotten them kicked out of the restaurant and for indecent behavior in public no less! He almost wanted to cry. The only good thing that came out of this was that he found he could make Snape hard. That counted for something right? Well, not really since Snape would probably never want to see him again after this.
Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it. He opened it, and then closed it again. He didn’t know what else to say and he had already apologized a few hundred times already. “I’m sorry.” Once more for good measure, right?
“Potter, summon that flower pot.”
Well, that was certainly a strange thing for Snape to say at a time like this. They were a block from Fredrick’s, having walked here after being thrown out of the little bistro. Harry shrugged and summoned the flower pot with his wand. It held a Venus fly trap that was still glistening from the leftover morning dew.
“Good, now dry the dew off of that plant.”
Harry looked at Snape in confusion, but did as he was told. With a drying spell, he gently dried the plant, which seemed to lift its head a bit like a dog did when it wanted to be petted. It was kind of cute really.
“So you do know how to use drying and summoning spells,” Snape said dryly.
Harry flushed. Now it made sense. He was really an idiot wasn’t he? He could have avoided the whole mess if he had just thought more like a wizard, but then he had panicked when everything went tits up. “I’m sorry,” he said miserably.
“Stop apologizing Potter, it’s annoying.”
They continued to walk, almost aimlessly, through the streets of Diagon Alley. It was nice and pleasant in the way a date was supposed to be, except that Harry supposed dates didn’t usually include getting thrown out of restaurants. “What would you like to do next?” he ventured. There was a pretty big chance that Snape would say that he just wanted to go home, but after the disaster of a lunch they just had, Harry couldn’t blame him.
Snape, however, surprised him by saying, “What do you suggest? This is your date after all.”
Severus was having a very hard time not laughing. Potter looked so miserable and downtrodden that he could barely help it. He supposed he should work on that whole getting-pleasure-from-other’s-misery thing, especially if he wanted to date said person, but this was only the first date. There was still time to change if this went anywhere, right?
“How about we walk around and look at the shops? We could go into whichever stores catch our fancy.”
Potter sounded and looked like an eager puppy now. Severus almost wanted to roll up a Prophet and swat the boy on the nose. It would be in a friendly and amicable manner of course, but still. “That sounds agreeable.”
Potter absolutely beamed. Severus noticed that when Potter smiled, truly smiled, not that smile that he gave the press, his whole face lit up and his green eyes sparkled. It was fascinatingly attractive.
They walked along, passing a few clothing stores and eateries before they came upon Burtleton’s Apothecary. It was one of the lesser known ones, but it housed some of the most truly disgusting ingredients. These would be perfect for some of the potions Severus wanted to research though.
His eyes lingered on the door, but then he looked away. He could do it another time. Potter never liked potions, and he certainly wouldn’t enjoy going into an apothecary.
“We could go in here if there’s something you wanted to see,” said Potter.
So Potter had noticed. Severus hadn’t thought the young man was paying that much attention to him, but apparently he was wrong. “It’s quite alright, I’m sure it’ll only bore you.” He turned to walk away when Potter’s hand grabbed his arm.
“If it’s something that interests you, then I could always learn to like it.” Again with that stifling sincerity. Severus could only nod as Potter led him into Burtleton’s.
Burtleton’s was wonderful. Well, at least to Severus. Potter looked like he was going to sick up. They had some of the freshest Thestral penises Severus had ever seen and their selection of mermaid eyes was superb.
“Are those…?” Potter asked as he pointed to a jar of hippogriff gonads.
“Yes,” Severus simply answered. He was pretty sure that Potter had the right general idea, and if Potter didn’t, then well he was an imbecile.
Potter shuddered and looked away, adjusting the seat of his trousers. Severus wasn’t surprised by the reaction. He had had the same one when he came across the same thing back in his youth. He was just used to it now.
In the end Severus had a very successful haul of utterly foul ingredients and was a very happy man by the time they exited the store. Potter, on the other hand, had yet to lose his slightly greenish sheen. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Potter swallowed loudly, “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look fine though. In fact, he looked very much the opposite of fine as he stood there clutching that pot of Venus fly trap. “Potter, did you steal that plant?”
Harry looked down at the plant still in his hands. That’s great, public indecency and then petty theft all in one day. This was turning out to be a wonderful date.
“I think I might have accidently stolen this.” He eyed the plant that was currently basking gloriously in the sun. “You wouldn’t happen to remember where I got this from would you?”
Snape shook his head and Harry hung his head in defeat. He was pretty sure he qualified for the world’s worse date by now. Snape, oddly enough though, didn’t seem to mind too much. “I’m sure no one will miss it Potter, but if your Gryffindor sensibilities won’t let it lie, then you could always walk the streets aimlessly until you find where you took it from.”
Harry pouted. Now Snape was definitely making fun of him. “I’ll have you know my Gryffindor sensibilities are telling me to do no such thing.”
“Well, good then, Potter, now where to next?”
Snape was smirking happily. To the outside world, he might look like he was being haughty right now, but this was just his happy face. The date was going surprisingly well. He now had a package of ingredients he had been wanting for awhile, and without even meaning to do it he had turned Potter into a thief.
He had accused Potter of being a thief during Potter’s Hogwarts years, but he had known that Potter had never actually done any of the thieving. He had surveillance spells everywhere after all. It was just really good fun goading Potter. He guessed he better cut back on some of that now.
“Let’s go to Honeydukes,” said Potter.
Severus reluctantly followed. He supposed it was only fair game that he had to follow Potter into that den of seduction since Potter had gone to the apothecary’s with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the shop or the sweets; it was that he liked them both a little too much. It wouldn’t do to let everybody in on the fact that he had a sweet tooth that could rival Albus’ though, so he usually refrained from going into Honeydukes.
The sheer quantity of teeth rotting confectionaries was staggering. Severus felt his mouth water, but restrained himself, schooling his face into a mask of neutrality.
Harry felt Snape stiffen beside him, but not before he noticed the brief glimpse of want in the man’s eyes. Honestly, you’d think liking sweets was a bad thing or something! Well, he supposed Snape might view it like that. The man was, after all, the stern potions master who was instilled fear into every Hogwarts student. It would look quite ridiculous if the man had a sweet tooth wouldn’t it?
“I’ll just be a minute, Severus,” said Harry. He was going to make good on the promise too. With unparalleled speed, Harry made his way through the shop, grabbing a few of each confectionary except the ones that looked plainly disgusting. No one should enjoy blood lollipops. Harry shuddered.
Very quickly they were out of there and Harry had a large bag of treats in his hand. He noticed that Snape was scowling at it, but he thought it had to do more with envy than with disgust. “Would you like some, Severus? I’m sure I can’t eat it all by myself, and it would be a shame to waste all these.”
Snape scowled some more and seemed to consider it. “I suppose it would not be good to be wasteful.” Snape reached into the offered bag, and as Harry had thought, Snape chose some of the sweetest chocolates in there.
Harry didn’t want to mention it, but he was currently starving and filling up on sweets alone wasn’t exactly appetizing. Perhaps when he was younger it would alright, but now he didn’t think his stomach could take it. Snape however seemed to be having a grand time with his chocolates. “Since we didn’t exactly finish our lunch, would you like to grab a bite to eat somewhere?”
They had spent nearly the whole day roaming the streets of Diagon Alley and it was well into four now. Harry was surprised that the time seemed to pass so quickly and smoothly. It seemed that Snape really meant it when he said he would give this a try. The fact made Harry infinitely happy.
“That’s fine. Where did you want to go?”
“Well, I was thinking you could choose this time since I already choose our lunch destination.” Harry really didn’t want to think about their disastrous lunch date. It had been horrifyingly embarrassing and he was sure he lost a few years off of his life on sheer mortification alone.
Snape considered, and then pointed straight in front of them to the Three Broomsticks. “Would that suffice?”
Severus felt himself stiffen again. His culinary tastes didn’t run to little French bistros and anything that fancy. He really just liked take away and pub food mostly. It was unrefined and very common, but he had always been like this. Even after all those years of shaping and molding in the Slytherin dorms, he still preferred fish and chips to anything else.
Potter simply nodded and held the door open for him. It was quite chivalrous, and Severus would have been impressed had he been a bird. “Potter, I’m a man, there’s no need to hold doors open for me.” He stepped through the threshold nonetheless though.
Potter actually blushed. It was at the same time endearing and disgusting. Severus felt conflicted. “I know that, I just wanted to.”
Severus walked towards the seats at the bar with Potter following close behind. They ordered, and Severus held back his laughter when Potter just stared at him with wide eyes when he ordered fish and chips, heavy on the vinegar, and a pint of lager. It was no surprise really. When he was younger he didn’t used to think that his professors had actual lives of their own either until he became one himself.
Potter ended up getting the same thing as him, and the silence while they sat there and ate their respective early dinners was a bit stifling. Severus didn’t know what to say to Potter, and it seemed that Potter didn’t know what to say to him either. They didn’t have much common ground besides Voldemort and all the history there, but neither of them felt like dwelling on that.
“So what are those ingredients going to be used for?”
“Potions,” Severus answered.
Potter rolled his eyes. “I meant what potions.” Potter continued to shovel food into his mouth, and Severus noticed that he was much more at ease than he was this morning. Severus himself was more at ease now that he knew Potter wasn’t planning on using him as a house elf for the next 24 hours. To tell the truth, he was actually having a rather good time.
They weren’t at each other’s throats and Potter wasn’t really annoying him all too much. If anything Potter seemed almost like an eager puppy. Usually Severus liked to kick puppies, but perhaps Potter was the kind that could be house trained.
Severus laughed to himself. His line of thought was currently completely different than from this morning. He no longer thought Potter was out to hurt or humiliate him. In fact, he was sure that he was in a better position to do just that to Potter. He wasn’t the one that was in love after all.
But he wouldn’t do that though. He knew all too well how that felt, and he’d certainly never do it to another human being. He had never even had the chance to contemplate doing such thing. No one, as far as he had known, had ever fancied him.
“They are just some potions I’ve been researching. I’m sure you’ll find them tiresome.”
Potter looked at him with those green eyes again. “I won’t find anything you like tiresome. I might not understand it or truly love it like you do, but I won’t find it tiresome. Tell me.”
Severus studied the other man. Potter had indeed really grown up. “It’s a variation of the Wolfsbane potion, except that if ingested everyday instead of only before the full moon, it would prevent transformation completely.”
Severus held his breath. This was his life’s work right here. He wasn’t exactly ready for it to be mocked and ridiculed, even if he had been working on it for most of his adult life and still hadn’t been able to perfect it yet. He was close, so close, but there was always something missing.
To his surprise, Potter’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s amazing!” Potter eagerly jumped a bit and looked at Severus with what could only be termed as awe. “You’re brilliant, you know that?”
“Don’t call me brilliant yet,” Severus mumbled. “I haven’t been able to perfect it for years. It’s just research. I’m sure it’ll go nowhere.”
He was being morose and pessimistic, but the hopes he had once had of patenting his creation had died down a little each year. “The potion isn’t stable. The ingredients I’ve used are very volatile and I can’t heat it properly without the mass either congealing or blowing up.”
“It congeals?” Potter asked. “So you’re saying that the fire isn’t hot enough? Oh don’t look at me like that, I did pay some attention in your class after all.”
Severus raised an eyebrow. He was impressed that Potter had gotten that point. Well, it wouldn’t have impressed him if it had come from anyone older than a fourth year, but this was Potter they were talking about. Potter was only surpassed by Longbottom in his utter failure when it came to potions. “I’ve tried different magical fires, but they’re too hot and the potion always ends up exploding. Regular cauldron fire isn’t hot enough even if I add an accelerant to it.”
This had been the problem. He just couldn’t find the right kind of fire no matter how he adjusted the minute properties of the potion, the cauldron, and the heat. It was driving him barmy that was what it was doing.
“Have you thought of using dragon fire?” Potter asked after taking a sip of his lager. “If you keep looking at me like that, your face is going to be stuck like that permanently.”
Severus could only stare at Potter. Perhaps the boy was some sort of idiot savant? Either that or just an idiot that was extremely lucky. Severus would put money on the latter.
Potter laughed. “I work with dragons you know. I might not know anything about potions, but I do know dragons, and I know that dragon fire is hotter than any man made fire and its heat is only surpassed by magical fire.”
Severus blinked dumbly at Potter. Yes, that would indeed work. Or at least in theory it could. He had toyed with the idea once in his school days but had never put much stock into it. Dragons were notoriously hard to control creatures, and getting a dragon to lend its dragon fire to something that requires intense delicacy such as potions, was rather impossible an idea.
“You’re right there,” Severus said an emphatic nod, “but it’s not really an option. One, I don’t have a dragon at my disposal, and two, even if I did have one, I wouldn’t be able to cultivate it’s dragon fire.”
“I could try and help you with that,” Potter suggested with glee. “We’ve got some baby dragons we’ve been raising since birth, and they’re very friendly and agreeable. I’m not guaranteeing anything, but at least we could try it.”
Severus was a bit astonished at the offer to help. He wasn’t used to people offering him help without wanting anything in return. Even Albus had initially only offered him asylum in return for his spying. The only person who had ever been there for him unconditionally had been Lucius.
Harry looked worriedly at Snape. They were animatedly talking, and Snape had seemed genuinely interested for the first time the whole day, but now it was like a cloud was hanging over the man. “Why do you look sad all of a sudden?” Harry knew it was risky to ask something that could potentially be very personal, but he didn’t like to see Snape sad. It reminded him too much of that month after Snape had escaped captivity.
Snape shook his head. “It’s nothing Potter,” he said without rancor. “Thank you for the offer to help, but I’d hate to be an inconvenience.”
Harry smiled. How could any chance for him to see more of Snape be an inconvenience? “Trust me, it’s no inconvenience. I like your company.”
Snape looked surprised and when Harry gave his hand a squeeze on the table. To Harry’s bliss and satisfaction, Snape didn’t jerk his hand back though. “Thank you,” he simply replied. “I might take you up on that offer.”
Snape was looking at him a bit strangely now. It made Harry very uncomfortable. He just didn’t like people looking at him that much since he knew he wasn’t much to look at. Sure, a lot of people liked him and wanted to date him, but he was sure that they only wanted him for his fame. If he weren’t Harry Potter, then no one would pay any attention to him.
“Not much to look at, huh?” he joked and tried to ease the slight tension that had built.
Severus stared incredulously at Potter. Not much to look at? Was the man daft or did he just not own a mirror? “Potter, you’ve hinted at something like that all day. I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.” Severus scowled. He hated not being in on the joke. It made him feel like the joke was being played on him.
“Look,” Potter said almost defensively, “I know I’m not the best looking bloke alright? It just makes me uncomfortable when people point it out to me.”
“You’re kidding right?” Severus laughed. Potter looked hurt, much too hurt for the situation, and Severus abruptly stopped. Potter really believed that didn’t he? “Potter, who has been going around and filling your head with this idiotic notion that you’re not attractive?”
Potter looked down at his food and sighed. “No one needs to tell me alright? My mirror lets me hear enough of that thank you very much.”
Potter looked so dejected that Severus wanted to pet him. Either that or put him down and end his suffering. He really did need to get this image of Potter as a pup out of his head. This was heading down to a very weird territory. “Your mirror?” he asked. Mirrors weren’t supposed to insult their owners, not unless Potter had been moronic enough to get the wrong mirror. “What is your mirror’s name?”
Potter lifted his head and looked up with confusion clear on his face. “Name? Mirrors have names?”
Severus shook his head and took a deep, calming breath. He was on a date with the town idiot. “Potter, all mirrors have names. I’m beginning to suspect that your mirror is insulting you because you don’t know its name and have never called it by its name.”
“I didn’t even realize mirrors had names!” Potter looked genuinely surprised.
“When you bought it, did you not bother to read the engraved name on the back of it?”
Potter shook his head. “I thought that was the name of the mirror’s last owner, and that he had carved his name on there so that it couldn’t get stolen as easily.” Incredulous laughter started to bubble forth from Potter and Severus very nearly wanted to slap him silly. The boy was an idiot.
“No, Potter,” he said with as much patience as he could muster, “that is in fact the mirror’s name. Now, if you want it to stop insulting you, I suggest you start calling it by its proper name. I also suggest that if you have a female mirror, that you go buy a male one. That could also be a contributory factor.”
“No, it’s a male one, I’m sure.” Potter laughed some more. It wasn’t even laughing anymore. It was giggling! Severus was rightly appalled.
Harry laughed at the slightly disgusted look on Snape’s face. Snape looked like he was caught between wanting to slap Harry and wanting to laugh. The situation was indeed very funny though. He had never heard of such a thing and that would explain why his mirror was so hostile towards him. He would be grouchy too if someone continued to speak with him without even acknowledging his name.
“Thanks, Severus,” Harry laughed, “I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Snape denied.
“Yes, I do. You’ve allowed me to take you out on a date, you’ve put up with me the whole day, you’ve given me a chance to be a part of ground breaking research, and now you’ve rescued me from my abusive mirror. I definitely owe you.”
“Potter, we really don’t owe each other anything.”
“Stop being modest, Severus, I owe you more than you know.” Harry grew bold and mischievous as the idea hit him. It was so Slytherin that even Snape would have to appreciate it. “I think for all your troubles, I owe you another date.”
Severus smirked at the very unsubtle attempt Potter had just made. “Are you perhaps trying to Slytherin your way into a second date?” He raised an eyebrow at Potter.
“If I am,” Potter said seriously, “would it work?”
Severus considered this. He looked down to his bag of potion ingredients, then to the plate of his fish and chips, and then finally to the Venus fly trap that was sitting happily on the bar. Potter certainly had an inclination towards prickly, generally disliked things, didn’t he?
Severus thought carefully. He had indeed had a very good time, and Potter had been surprisingly easy to get along with. He was definitely attracted to Potter, as the wine incident at lunch had clearly indicated. A small, insecure part of him still thought that Potter would end up treating him as Black had, but mentally and emotionally he knew that Potter would do no such thing. The question now was whether or not he would allow himself the chance to try and make this work with Potter. He clearly didn’t need to, but Severus found himself very much wanting to.
“Perhaps,” Severus finally said with a small smile. “Perhaps.”
Author:
alexcaster Fest: Snarry-A-Thon
Other pairings/threesome: past Severus/Lucius and Severus/Sirius
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~18,000
Warning(s): Brief mention of past abuse
Prompt:355 - Minerva enters Severus in the new Wizard bachelor auction
Summary: When Harry bids on Severus in the new Wizard bachelor auction to benefit the children of St Mungo’s, can he convince Severus to not only enjoy the date but also go on a second one with him?
A/N: Thanks to my beta and the wonderful mods!
Severus stared incredulously at Potter. He could still feel the lingering strength of the other man’s emotions and it was overwhelming. Potter loved him. Potter loved him. It was too much for him to comprehend, yet he couldn’t refute it. He had seen it, felt it, so clearly.
“You love me,” Severus said dumbly.
Potter laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I can stop if you’d like…well, I can try to stop.”
Potter was babbling. And Potter was nervous. Severus nearly laughed, but he held it back with all the self control he had. Potter was in love with him, and Potter was nervous that Severus would reject him.
Severus had to appreciate how ludicrous the situation was. Had Potter never looked at himself in the mirror? Or maybe Potter was touched in the head. That would certainly explain how it could possibly be that Potter was in love with him.
“You’re in love with me,” he said again just to try the words out on his tongue. They tasted nice; a bit like champagne.
Potter started babbling again and very rapidly at that. It was almost amusing. “Yes, truly sorry about that. I know you can’t stand me and hate that I am, but I had to show you that I wasn’t doing this out of vengeance or anything like that. I’m sure the feeling will pass. Well, actually they haven’t passed through all these years but then on the bright side I’m in Romania all the time and you won’t have to deal with my unwanted advances. Just for today though, since we have this date and all, but then I promise you I’ll get out of your hair.”
Severus was usually a man that knew what he needed to do. When he was younger, he needed to be acknowledged and to be revered. That was why he had joined Voldemort, and that was a brilliant idea. When he had found that he couldn’t stand for Voldemort’s actions and beliefs, he had needed to right his horrendous lapse of judgment. That was why he had become a spy, and had spent the next few centuries under constant stress and worry and had let himself get cursed, hexed, tortured, and buggered bloody. After the war was over and his mistakes were finally paid for in full, he had needed to help with the rebuilding. That was he was had contributed magically and physically to the task, and that was also the reason he had agreed to stay on as a Hogwarts professor even though it made him bloody miserable.
But now, now he didn’t need to do anything! He hardly needed to remain at Hogwarts since the times were good and he was sure Minerva could easily find a replacement for him. He had no one he needed to spy on, no wrong he needed to right. Severus didn’t know what to do with himself. If there was ever a time to do what he wanted, then it would be now.
But that was the issue wasn’t it? What exactly did he want? He didn’t spend that much and so he had enough from his teaching salary to live pretty comfortably and only have to take the occasional brewing job. He wasn’t one for the excesses of life or any such extravagance. When he really thought about it, there wasn’t much that he wanted materially. He supposed that the thing he could possibly want most would be someone, a partner, of his own, but he had given up on that notion a long time ago. It just simply didn’t seem feasible an option.
But now, Potter was here sitting in front of him telling him that he loved him. Was it selfish or absurd for Severus to feel a tiny bit happy about that? It certainly was vain though. He had never looked at Potter as anything more than a student and a nuisance, and perhaps a comrade when they fought side by side during battle, but nothing more. He had never had any notions towards the younger man. In fact, he made it a point to not have notions of any kind towards his students whether they were current or past.
So why was he a bit happy that Potter seemed to want him? Severus decided that it must be because he was so deprived of companionship that he would cling to any that he could get. And in terms of what he could get, Harry Potter definitely wasn’t the worst thing. In fact, he was sure that if anyone found out, they would surely wish death upon him for stealing the great Potter’s attention.
“Severus?” Potter asked as he waved a hand in front of Severus’ face. “Oh god, are you having a stroke? I’ve done it, haven’t I? I’ve finally annoyed you so much that you’re stroking out.”
The hand frantically waving just inches from his nose and the panicked tone of Potter’s voice was too much, and before Severus knew it he was in a fit of hysterics. The laughter was just bubbling out of him, and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it. He didn’t even want to stop it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like this and wasn’t in a state of crazed stress.
Through the tears of laughter in his eyes, he could see Potter sitting in front of him looking shocked and horrified at the same time. He should stop this ridiculous behavior, he knew he should, but the look on Potter’s face only served to make him laugh harder. By the time their waiter came back with their food, Severus had a stitch in his side.
+++
Harry took their food and thanked their waiter before dismissing the man in favor of Snape, who was currently in hysterics in front of him. He had expected perhaps anger or even a hex or two, but certainly not this. It seemed that Snape had finally lost it. All those years as a spy, living under unimaginable stress and hardship, and it was finally Harry’s confession that did the man in. Figures, Harry thought gloomily.
On one hand, he was a bit upset that his confession of love had been met with such outright laughter, but on the other hand he was genuinely worried about Snape. There was always the possibility that the man had been hexed or cursed, thus resulting in his current state after all. “Severus? Are you alright?” he asked when Snape finally seemed to calm down and was now only wheezing with the last vestiges of his laughter.
“Am I alright? I should be the one to ask you that!” Snape said between gasps of laughter as he held onto his side.
Well, at least one of them found this amusing. “I don’t find this very funny,” Harry grumbled. He really didn’t see how laying all his feelings bare and then getting laughed at was funny. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was very unfunny.
“Really? You don’t think this is funny?” Snape laughed some more. “You’re Harry bloody Potter, the Boy Who Everyone Loves, the bloody Savior of all things small and furry, and you want to date me!”
“Well, yes, that was the general idea,” said Harry, “but I still don’t see how that’s funny.”
“Are you daft?!”
“Not usually, but at this moment I’m feeling a bit like perhaps I am…”
Snape broke out into laughter again. Oh what joy. At least he was able to entertain the other man with how pathetic he was. That was him, Harry Potter, ever the entertaining date.
“You really want to date me…”
“More than you can ever know.”
Snape’s laughter had died down, and now a contemplative look was crossing his face. Harry didn’t know whether to cast a shield spell over his bits or not. The man could be having a much delayed reaction is all.
+++
Severus considered this. Potter was definitely being sincere, and he knew that chances like this would never come around again even if he had never considered the notion of dating Potter before. If anything, just doing it to see the looks on everyone’s faces alone would be worth it.
Severus still marveled at the situation. Potter was young and fit and handsome and could probably have his pick of anyone he laid his eyes on, and yet, here he was, sitting in front of Severus a nervous, bumbling wreck. That had to say something, didn’t it?
Severus still had his doubts though. Would it even work? They could hardly stand each other’s presence during Potter’s Hogwarts years. What was to say that they wouldn’t be at each other’s throats? Well, to be fair, Potter had actually been pretty decently amicable so far. But what if Potter got sick of him after the first date? You always want what you can’t have after all, and now that Potter had a taste of him, then wouldn’t it be natural for the young man to conquer and then lose interest now that the conquest has been successful? Severus questioned this. Youth was such a fickle thing, and Potter certainly was young.
However, hadn’t Potter said that he had been in love with Severus for ages? That his feelings hadn’t faded all these years and that he could only promise to try and forget them? No, Severus didn’t think that Potter would get bored of him and simply dump him. He had felt the truth of that when he had had free reign of Potter’s mind. This was serious for Potter.
What would people think? He was so much older than Potter, and besides that, he was as everyone had always called him, nothing but a greasy git. He was ugly, he knew that. His nose was too large, his skin was sallow, and his fingers were always stained thanks to all those potions he brewed on a daily basis. He was definitely not the most attractive prospect for a date.
“People will talk,” Severus finally said.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Potter said with resignation. “I’ll try not to let your name get dragged through the mud with mine.”
Severus blinked. There was no humor in Potter’s voice, and it seemed that Potter truly did believe that. How did the man that everyone clamored around and constantly fawned over have such a low opinion about himself? It was ludicrous. “Potter, it’s not my name I’m worried about. Half of the people here still think that I was working for Voldemort all along and that I was never a spy for the light. There’s no way my name can get dragged any lower really.”
Potter looked angry for a second. “Who cares what those miserable sods think?! They’re nothing but parasites living off of other people’s lives and misfortunes. They know nothing about you, or how brave and loyal and honorable you are.”
Potter said it all with such conviction that Severus was a bit thrown back. “You…think highly of me?” He hadn’t meant for it to come out so unsure of a question, but that was how he felt. He was used to people sneering at him with distrust, so this almost unwavering faith that Potter seemed to have for him was startling. The only two people that had ever truly believed in him fully and completely were Albus and Minerva.
“I think the world of you, Severus,” Potter said quietly.
And Severus believed him. He truly did. Besides his once fleeting and fickle sexual relationship with Lucius, Black was the only person that Severus had ever thought of as a romantic prospect. Lucius had always been good to him, protective in an almost paternal sort of way, and Severus had known even back then that Lucius only slept with him out of some twisted sort of loyalty they had between them. After a few weeks though, it was apparent to the both of them that what they were currently pursuing wouldn’t work, and that it would only ruin their friendship.
Then there was Severus’ entirely inappropriate attraction to Black. The man was wild and unpredictable, beautiful and free. As a young man, he had found Sirius Black very appealing indeed. The attraction didn’t go both ways though, and in the end Black had used him for nothing but sex. It was an appalling thing to do, but Severus didn’t know why he hadn’t expected that sort of behavior from Black. When Potter and his friends found out, Black had dumped him, quite publicly. The things Black had said, all the crude things that Severus knew were true, broke him. Yes, he did love sucking Black’s cock. Yes, he did so enjoy having Black inside of him. And yes, he was blindly in love with the man and would have done just about anything that Black had asked.
The funny thing though, was that all this never made Severus ashamed before. What they had between them, the things they did, had been beautiful to Severus. It wasn’t until Potter and his gang surrounded him, calling in all the people that constantly surrounded and looked up to them, that Severus knew he was mistaken. It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t clean. And most of all, it wasn’t treasured, not at all. The things Black had whispered to him in bed while they made love were nothing but pretty little lies told to lure him into submission. He felt dirty.
The public ridicule, the weight of the things Black had said to him as he taunted Severus in front of his friends, that had broken something inside of him that even Lucius’ soft touches and gentle kisses afterwards couldn’t mend. He was an ugly git and it was presumptuous of him to think he could bed not only the beauty of Slytherin and then the poster boy of Gryffindor. He simply wasn’t good enough for that. Black had made sure to drive that home, along with the point that Severus would never be anything more than an ugly Slytherin whore, eager to spread his legs for any man.
Black had taken what they had and had turned it into something so vile that Severus had never forgiven him for. The only good thing that came out of it all was that Severus saw what a true friend Lucius was. Lucius, who was cold and regal to everyone else but him, had spent countless nights in his bed, just holding him and telling him that he was beautiful. For that, he would have given his life to the other man if he had ever asked.
Lucius never did though. Lucius had always protected Severus, even when they were grown and working within the ranks of Voldemort’s lackeys. Up to those final days before his cover was blown when he had sent Potter to safety on his only portkey.
Those few days had been the worst of what he suffered. Disloyalty was not something that Voldemort took kindly to, and the Dark Lord had seen to it that Severus paid dearly for his trespasses. He can’t remember exactly what and how many curses and hexes were placed upon him, for all he could remember was the blazing haze of pain that was like a constant throb. It never stopped. Severus was sure he was going to die in there, and quite messily so, but they had taken his wand from him and tortured him until he was too weak to fight back or even think about using any wandless magic.
After three days of being passed around as the party favor of choice at the unending gathering that Voldemort had thrown in mock celebration of Severus’ revealed loyalties, Lucius had finally wheedled his way into convincing Voldemort to give Severus to him for the night. It was no secret that they were friends, and when Lucius told Voldemort that he had taken a personal offense to being betrayed by his best friend, Voldemort had not questioned it.
Severus had expected to suffer at Lucius’ hands, but that was a given. He did not expect his friend to show mercy, for that would only get the both of them killed. Lucius did, however, and Severus had played the part through, writhing and screaming his throat raw for Lucius even when the curses were only for show and barely tickled him. It was a risky play, but Lucius had made it in order to spare him some pain, if only for a little while.
The Dark Lord did so enjoy his public shows. The Death Eaters, the sick lot of them, weren’t much better. They enjoyed it, the pain and the torture. Lucius never had though. Severus knew the man well enough to know that Lucius never truly enjoyed such blood sports. That wasn’t to say that Lucius was a good man though. No, that would not be true. Lucius was cold and calculating. He had no qualms about killing, but he was methodical about it; clean.
Voldemort never questioned Lucius’ loyalty even if Lucius rarely participated in their games. Lucius had done enough for him, killed enough, that his loyalty was unquestionable. The fact that Lucius volunteered to play torturer when it came to Severus sent a gleam of anticipation and glee that Severus would never be able to forget into Voldemort’s gaze.
The night was long before Lucius had leave to take Severus back to his rooms for personal enjoyment. Severus couldn’t remember much at that point, his body bruised and throbbing everywhere. It was only after Lucius had poured a few healing potions down Severus’ throat that Severus was able to hang onto the slipping threads of consciousness.
“I’m sorry, Sev,” Lucius whispered. His fingers had been so gentle as they caressed Severus’ swollen face. It was a ghost of a touch that Severus could still sometimes feel to this day. “I’m so sorry.”
Lucius had spent the rest of the night alternating between healing Severus as best he could and kissing him, providing comfort with nothing but undemanding soft caresses. There wasn’t much healing that Lucius could actually do without it being obvious, but he had tried nonetheless. Severus could remember that that was the one of the few times he had ever felt loved.
It ended of course. It always ended. It ended when Lucius gave Severus his safety net, his only portkey out of danger, and pressed it along with a wand into Severus’ hand when Voldemort came calling in the middle of the night with Greyback growling at his side. Before the pull of magic tugged Severus out of there through the suffocating hole of magic, the last thing he had seen was a flash of sickening green as his only friend fell.
After that, he couldn’t remember how he had made it back to headquarters. The only thing he knew was that his only friend was dead, and that it was entirely his fault. For once he was glad for his injuries and for the pain, because that meant he didn’t have to think about it. Severus was very good at not thinking about things. It was only in the middle of the night when his eyes were closed that he couldn’t help but remember things because they played out behind his eyelids like a Muggle movie.
Severus blinked, getting rid of the image, to find himself staring at a quietly beseeching Potter still sitting in front of him as if waiting for something. Oh right, it was his turn to say something. What though? What exactly was he supposed to say to Potter? He had never really thought of the other man as anything besides a pain in his arse. He certainly didn’t love Potter, and most definitely not in the way that Potter seemed to love him.
Severus settled on the only thing that he knew to be true. “I don’t love you,” he said.
Potter winced, quite visibly. “I know that. I don’t expect you to.”
“I don’t think I even like you.”
Potter winced again. He hadn’t meant to make Potter wince those last two times. “Unfortunately, that is something that I’m quite aware of as well.”
“Then,” Severus started slowly, “what exactly is it that you expect of me?”
It sounded pathetic to his own ears and made him feel like a fifth year again, but he needed to know. What did Potter want to achieve by bidding on him instead of some fit young thing? If it was sex, then Potter was sorely mistaken because the contract strictly forbade sexual coerce of any kind.
“I don’t expect anything of you,” Potter said as he wrung his hands, “but I would be very happy if you just enjoyed yourself and let me really take you out on a date.”
“A date…”
“Yes, what we’re on right now.”
“You just want a date?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s a pretty big deal already, don’t you think?”
Severus looked Potter up and down. He sort of enjoyed the way Potter squirmed under his scrutiny. Old habits die hard. “Alright,” he said.
Severus had expected perhaps a smile, or even a look of victory and triumph. What he did not expect however, was for Potter to choke on his water and proceed to spit it out all over the table. Splendid.
+++
Harry tried to get control of his breathing. His throat had gone as dry as sand waiting for Severus to say something and he had mistakenly taken a sip of water. He swore never to drink water again. His nose burned and his face was flaming hot from the embarrassment of having literally watered down the table. Snape looked mildly disgusted.
Their waiter was there in a flash, cleaning the mess with a smooth flick of his wand. Harry had never been more grateful for magic, even if their food was beyond repair. “I’ll have different orders out to you in a tad,” said their waiter before he vanished again into the kitchen.
Harry fidgeted in his seat. “That was embarrassing,” he muttered.
Snape looked amused again. The smirk he wore was almost a smile. “You have the table manners of a Kneazle,” Snape informed him.
“I’m sorry,” Harry said pathetically. Merlin, he was miserable at this. He rarely ever dated as it was and so he was already awkward, but then Snape had surprised him. Had the man really agreed to go on this date with Harry and actually try to enjoy it? “Were you serious? About the agreeing part I mean…”
Snape nodded and thanked their waiter when their food appeared again. “That is unless of course you’re planning on spitting up all over again, because then the answer would be no.” Snape calmly forked a pieced of his food into his mouth.
Harry gaped. Did Snape just make a joke? “No more spitting up, I promise.”
Harry tried to contain the undoubtedly idiotic smile that was slowly spreading across his face. Snape had agreed to try and make this a real date, and Snape was joking with him! Feeling a bit triumphant, Harry mightily forked at the side of baby potatoes that came along with his sandwich.
+++
Severus ducked as a small round projectile came at his head. What was Potter trying to do, kill him? He looked up, very much annoyed, at his date. “Potter…”
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” Potter said quickly and quite frantically.
Severus could almost see the scene in slow motion, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. It seemed that he as well was moving at the same appallingly disastrous speed. First he saw Potter panic, and then he saw Potter lift up off of his seat, napkin in hand as he reached for Severus.
Severus supposed it was moot point since he had ducked in time, but Potter made to wipe him off nonetheless, and on the way decided to knock down his glass of merlot, which promptly rolled off the table, spilled its contents onto his lap, and then clattered to the floor. Oh bloody hell.
+++
Harry was out of his seat as quick as he could manage. Oh crap, he thought to himself. First he had practically spit at the man, then launched a small potato at his head, and then proceeded to dump a glass of merlot into his lap. There was no way that Snape was ever going to forgive him, let alone want to see him again.
“I’m so sorry!” he nearly yelled as he came over and tried to soak up the merlot with his napkin. Snape reached down to stop him, but he couldn’t just leave the other man like this! It was his fault after all!
He tried, he really tried, but the liquid seemed to be seeping too quickly into Severus’ trousers. Harry fumbled with his napkin, stealing Snape’s from the table as well when his own was too damp to hold anymore. He knew how hard it was to get wine stains out of fabric (thanks to a very long lecture from Hermione when he had spilled some red wine onto her white dress) and he tried desperately to rub as much of it off as he could manage.
“Potter, I said stop it!” Snape said severely.
Harry gulped, his hand stilling immediately. “I’m sorry,” he whispered from his position on the floor as he looked up at Snape’s face. The man had to be furious.
What he saw, however, wasn’t a very furious Snape, but instead a very uncomfortable looking Snape. Awkward and uncomfortable. Hm. Well, he supposed he would be uncomfortable too if he were sitting there in wet trousers.
Harry looked down at his hand, which was currently clutching the napkin.
His hand was in Snape’s lap. His hand was on Snape’s crotch. Hm, and what a nice, straining crotch it was, Harry thought with a less than decent smirk. Wait…what?!
+++
Severus sat rigidly, taking deep breathes to calm himself. Either Potter was innocently oblivious, or he was the spawn of Satan. Either that or a Slytherin. Severus couldn’t decide, because Potter’s hand was still in his lap, on his very much tenting crotch. This really couldn’t get any more embarrassing.
“You’re hard,” Potter said with wonder.
Severus wanted to kill himself. Or perhaps Potter. Either would do really at this point. “Potter,” he replied tersely, “you’ve been rubbing at me for the past three minutes. What did you expect would happen?!”
Potter just looked at him and smiled idiotically. Oh great. How had he not noticed after seven years of teaching the boy that Potter was mentally retarded? Perhaps it had only happened after defeating Voldemort. It could just be the after effects of all the curses they traded. Yes, that was perfectly reasonable.
“Potter, we are in public.” Severus tried his best to keep his voice level and calm. “My trousers are wet, and I would really appreciate it if you would kindly retrieve my fallen glass and then get off your knees.”
Severus was quite proud of himself for not mentioning that his trousers were only wet because Potter was an imbecile. It took a lot of self control, that.
Potter shook his head as if to clear whatever haze was in it and nodded. “Yes, of course.” Severus watched as Potter looked around for the glass with a look of confusion on his face before he did the unthinkable.
“Potter! What do you think you’re doing?!” Severus hissed.
“I’m looking for the glass, it’s not here,” Potter said from underneath the table. Had the boy never learned to use drying and summoning spells or something?!
“Ahem,” a voice sounded beside Severus and he looked up to see their waiter looking quite testy. Of course this would be when Potter’s head decided to emerge from underneath the table, looking rather flushed and breathless, kneeling between Severus’ knees. Their waiter, the cheeky bastard, had the nerve to glance pointedly at Severus’ still very much tented crotch.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
+++
Harry was beyond mortified. This had to be the worst date ever! Not only had he made a mess of everything, but he had also gotten them kicked out of the restaurant and for indecent behavior in public no less! He almost wanted to cry. The only good thing that came out of this was that he found he could make Snape hard. That counted for something right? Well, not really since Snape would probably never want to see him again after this.
Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it. He opened it, and then closed it again. He didn’t know what else to say and he had already apologized a few hundred times already. “I’m sorry.” Once more for good measure, right?
“Potter, summon that flower pot.”
Well, that was certainly a strange thing for Snape to say at a time like this. They were a block from Fredrick’s, having walked here after being thrown out of the little bistro. Harry shrugged and summoned the flower pot with his wand. It held a Venus fly trap that was still glistening from the leftover morning dew.
“Good, now dry the dew off of that plant.”
Harry looked at Snape in confusion, but did as he was told. With a drying spell, he gently dried the plant, which seemed to lift its head a bit like a dog did when it wanted to be petted. It was kind of cute really.
“So you do know how to use drying and summoning spells,” Snape said dryly.
Harry flushed. Now it made sense. He was really an idiot wasn’t he? He could have avoided the whole mess if he had just thought more like a wizard, but then he had panicked when everything went tits up. “I’m sorry,” he said miserably.
“Stop apologizing Potter, it’s annoying.”
They continued to walk, almost aimlessly, through the streets of Diagon Alley. It was nice and pleasant in the way a date was supposed to be, except that Harry supposed dates didn’t usually include getting thrown out of restaurants. “What would you like to do next?” he ventured. There was a pretty big chance that Snape would say that he just wanted to go home, but after the disaster of a lunch they just had, Harry couldn’t blame him.
Snape, however, surprised him by saying, “What do you suggest? This is your date after all.”
+++
Severus was having a very hard time not laughing. Potter looked so miserable and downtrodden that he could barely help it. He supposed he should work on that whole getting-pleasure-from-other’s-misery thing, especially if he wanted to date said person, but this was only the first date. There was still time to change if this went anywhere, right?
“How about we walk around and look at the shops? We could go into whichever stores catch our fancy.”
Potter sounded and looked like an eager puppy now. Severus almost wanted to roll up a Prophet and swat the boy on the nose. It would be in a friendly and amicable manner of course, but still. “That sounds agreeable.”
Potter absolutely beamed. Severus noticed that when Potter smiled, truly smiled, not that smile that he gave the press, his whole face lit up and his green eyes sparkled. It was fascinatingly attractive.
They walked along, passing a few clothing stores and eateries before they came upon Burtleton’s Apothecary. It was one of the lesser known ones, but it housed some of the most truly disgusting ingredients. These would be perfect for some of the potions Severus wanted to research though.
His eyes lingered on the door, but then he looked away. He could do it another time. Potter never liked potions, and he certainly wouldn’t enjoy going into an apothecary.
“We could go in here if there’s something you wanted to see,” said Potter.
So Potter had noticed. Severus hadn’t thought the young man was paying that much attention to him, but apparently he was wrong. “It’s quite alright, I’m sure it’ll only bore you.” He turned to walk away when Potter’s hand grabbed his arm.
“If it’s something that interests you, then I could always learn to like it.” Again with that stifling sincerity. Severus could only nod as Potter led him into Burtleton’s.
Burtleton’s was wonderful. Well, at least to Severus. Potter looked like he was going to sick up. They had some of the freshest Thestral penises Severus had ever seen and their selection of mermaid eyes was superb.
“Are those…?” Potter asked as he pointed to a jar of hippogriff gonads.
“Yes,” Severus simply answered. He was pretty sure that Potter had the right general idea, and if Potter didn’t, then well he was an imbecile.
Potter shuddered and looked away, adjusting the seat of his trousers. Severus wasn’t surprised by the reaction. He had had the same one when he came across the same thing back in his youth. He was just used to it now.
In the end Severus had a very successful haul of utterly foul ingredients and was a very happy man by the time they exited the store. Potter, on the other hand, had yet to lose his slightly greenish sheen. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Potter swallowed loudly, “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look fine though. In fact, he looked very much the opposite of fine as he stood there clutching that pot of Venus fly trap. “Potter, did you steal that plant?”
+++
Harry looked down at the plant still in his hands. That’s great, public indecency and then petty theft all in one day. This was turning out to be a wonderful date.
“I think I might have accidently stolen this.” He eyed the plant that was currently basking gloriously in the sun. “You wouldn’t happen to remember where I got this from would you?”
Snape shook his head and Harry hung his head in defeat. He was pretty sure he qualified for the world’s worse date by now. Snape, oddly enough though, didn’t seem to mind too much. “I’m sure no one will miss it Potter, but if your Gryffindor sensibilities won’t let it lie, then you could always walk the streets aimlessly until you find where you took it from.”
Harry pouted. Now Snape was definitely making fun of him. “I’ll have you know my Gryffindor sensibilities are telling me to do no such thing.”
“Well, good then, Potter, now where to next?”
+++
Snape was smirking happily. To the outside world, he might look like he was being haughty right now, but this was just his happy face. The date was going surprisingly well. He now had a package of ingredients he had been wanting for awhile, and without even meaning to do it he had turned Potter into a thief.
He had accused Potter of being a thief during Potter’s Hogwarts years, but he had known that Potter had never actually done any of the thieving. He had surveillance spells everywhere after all. It was just really good fun goading Potter. He guessed he better cut back on some of that now.
“Let’s go to Honeydukes,” said Potter.
Severus reluctantly followed. He supposed it was only fair game that he had to follow Potter into that den of seduction since Potter had gone to the apothecary’s with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the shop or the sweets; it was that he liked them both a little too much. It wouldn’t do to let everybody in on the fact that he had a sweet tooth that could rival Albus’ though, so he usually refrained from going into Honeydukes.
The sheer quantity of teeth rotting confectionaries was staggering. Severus felt his mouth water, but restrained himself, schooling his face into a mask of neutrality.
+++
Harry felt Snape stiffen beside him, but not before he noticed the brief glimpse of want in the man’s eyes. Honestly, you’d think liking sweets was a bad thing or something! Well, he supposed Snape might view it like that. The man was, after all, the stern potions master who was instilled fear into every Hogwarts student. It would look quite ridiculous if the man had a sweet tooth wouldn’t it?
“I’ll just be a minute, Severus,” said Harry. He was going to make good on the promise too. With unparalleled speed, Harry made his way through the shop, grabbing a few of each confectionary except the ones that looked plainly disgusting. No one should enjoy blood lollipops. Harry shuddered.
Very quickly they were out of there and Harry had a large bag of treats in his hand. He noticed that Snape was scowling at it, but he thought it had to do more with envy than with disgust. “Would you like some, Severus? I’m sure I can’t eat it all by myself, and it would be a shame to waste all these.”
Snape scowled some more and seemed to consider it. “I suppose it would not be good to be wasteful.” Snape reached into the offered bag, and as Harry had thought, Snape chose some of the sweetest chocolates in there.
Harry didn’t want to mention it, but he was currently starving and filling up on sweets alone wasn’t exactly appetizing. Perhaps when he was younger it would alright, but now he didn’t think his stomach could take it. Snape however seemed to be having a grand time with his chocolates. “Since we didn’t exactly finish our lunch, would you like to grab a bite to eat somewhere?”
They had spent nearly the whole day roaming the streets of Diagon Alley and it was well into four now. Harry was surprised that the time seemed to pass so quickly and smoothly. It seemed that Snape really meant it when he said he would give this a try. The fact made Harry infinitely happy.
“That’s fine. Where did you want to go?”
“Well, I was thinking you could choose this time since I already choose our lunch destination.” Harry really didn’t want to think about their disastrous lunch date. It had been horrifyingly embarrassing and he was sure he lost a few years off of his life on sheer mortification alone.
Snape considered, and then pointed straight in front of them to the Three Broomsticks. “Would that suffice?”
+++
Severus felt himself stiffen again. His culinary tastes didn’t run to little French bistros and anything that fancy. He really just liked take away and pub food mostly. It was unrefined and very common, but he had always been like this. Even after all those years of shaping and molding in the Slytherin dorms, he still preferred fish and chips to anything else.
Potter simply nodded and held the door open for him. It was quite chivalrous, and Severus would have been impressed had he been a bird. “Potter, I’m a man, there’s no need to hold doors open for me.” He stepped through the threshold nonetheless though.
Potter actually blushed. It was at the same time endearing and disgusting. Severus felt conflicted. “I know that, I just wanted to.”
Severus walked towards the seats at the bar with Potter following close behind. They ordered, and Severus held back his laughter when Potter just stared at him with wide eyes when he ordered fish and chips, heavy on the vinegar, and a pint of lager. It was no surprise really. When he was younger he didn’t used to think that his professors had actual lives of their own either until he became one himself.
Potter ended up getting the same thing as him, and the silence while they sat there and ate their respective early dinners was a bit stifling. Severus didn’t know what to say to Potter, and it seemed that Potter didn’t know what to say to him either. They didn’t have much common ground besides Voldemort and all the history there, but neither of them felt like dwelling on that.
“So what are those ingredients going to be used for?”
“Potions,” Severus answered.
Potter rolled his eyes. “I meant what potions.” Potter continued to shovel food into his mouth, and Severus noticed that he was much more at ease than he was this morning. Severus himself was more at ease now that he knew Potter wasn’t planning on using him as a house elf for the next 24 hours. To tell the truth, he was actually having a rather good time.
They weren’t at each other’s throats and Potter wasn’t really annoying him all too much. If anything Potter seemed almost like an eager puppy. Usually Severus liked to kick puppies, but perhaps Potter was the kind that could be house trained.
Severus laughed to himself. His line of thought was currently completely different than from this morning. He no longer thought Potter was out to hurt or humiliate him. In fact, he was sure that he was in a better position to do just that to Potter. He wasn’t the one that was in love after all.
But he wouldn’t do that though. He knew all too well how that felt, and he’d certainly never do it to another human being. He had never even had the chance to contemplate doing such thing. No one, as far as he had known, had ever fancied him.
“They are just some potions I’ve been researching. I’m sure you’ll find them tiresome.”
Potter looked at him with those green eyes again. “I won’t find anything you like tiresome. I might not understand it or truly love it like you do, but I won’t find it tiresome. Tell me.”
Severus studied the other man. Potter had indeed really grown up. “It’s a variation of the Wolfsbane potion, except that if ingested everyday instead of only before the full moon, it would prevent transformation completely.”
Severus held his breath. This was his life’s work right here. He wasn’t exactly ready for it to be mocked and ridiculed, even if he had been working on it for most of his adult life and still hadn’t been able to perfect it yet. He was close, so close, but there was always something missing.
To his surprise, Potter’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s amazing!” Potter eagerly jumped a bit and looked at Severus with what could only be termed as awe. “You’re brilliant, you know that?”
“Don’t call me brilliant yet,” Severus mumbled. “I haven’t been able to perfect it for years. It’s just research. I’m sure it’ll go nowhere.”
He was being morose and pessimistic, but the hopes he had once had of patenting his creation had died down a little each year. “The potion isn’t stable. The ingredients I’ve used are very volatile and I can’t heat it properly without the mass either congealing or blowing up.”
“It congeals?” Potter asked. “So you’re saying that the fire isn’t hot enough? Oh don’t look at me like that, I did pay some attention in your class after all.”
Severus raised an eyebrow. He was impressed that Potter had gotten that point. Well, it wouldn’t have impressed him if it had come from anyone older than a fourth year, but this was Potter they were talking about. Potter was only surpassed by Longbottom in his utter failure when it came to potions. “I’ve tried different magical fires, but they’re too hot and the potion always ends up exploding. Regular cauldron fire isn’t hot enough even if I add an accelerant to it.”
This had been the problem. He just couldn’t find the right kind of fire no matter how he adjusted the minute properties of the potion, the cauldron, and the heat. It was driving him barmy that was what it was doing.
“Have you thought of using dragon fire?” Potter asked after taking a sip of his lager. “If you keep looking at me like that, your face is going to be stuck like that permanently.”
Severus could only stare at Potter. Perhaps the boy was some sort of idiot savant? Either that or just an idiot that was extremely lucky. Severus would put money on the latter.
Potter laughed. “I work with dragons you know. I might not know anything about potions, but I do know dragons, and I know that dragon fire is hotter than any man made fire and its heat is only surpassed by magical fire.”
Severus blinked dumbly at Potter. Yes, that would indeed work. Or at least in theory it could. He had toyed with the idea once in his school days but had never put much stock into it. Dragons were notoriously hard to control creatures, and getting a dragon to lend its dragon fire to something that requires intense delicacy such as potions, was rather impossible an idea.
“You’re right there,” Severus said an emphatic nod, “but it’s not really an option. One, I don’t have a dragon at my disposal, and two, even if I did have one, I wouldn’t be able to cultivate it’s dragon fire.”
“I could try and help you with that,” Potter suggested with glee. “We’ve got some baby dragons we’ve been raising since birth, and they’re very friendly and agreeable. I’m not guaranteeing anything, but at least we could try it.”
Severus was a bit astonished at the offer to help. He wasn’t used to people offering him help without wanting anything in return. Even Albus had initially only offered him asylum in return for his spying. The only person who had ever been there for him unconditionally had been Lucius.
+++
Harry looked worriedly at Snape. They were animatedly talking, and Snape had seemed genuinely interested for the first time the whole day, but now it was like a cloud was hanging over the man. “Why do you look sad all of a sudden?” Harry knew it was risky to ask something that could potentially be very personal, but he didn’t like to see Snape sad. It reminded him too much of that month after Snape had escaped captivity.
Snape shook his head. “It’s nothing Potter,” he said without rancor. “Thank you for the offer to help, but I’d hate to be an inconvenience.”
Harry smiled. How could any chance for him to see more of Snape be an inconvenience? “Trust me, it’s no inconvenience. I like your company.”
Snape looked surprised and when Harry gave his hand a squeeze on the table. To Harry’s bliss and satisfaction, Snape didn’t jerk his hand back though. “Thank you,” he simply replied. “I might take you up on that offer.”
Snape was looking at him a bit strangely now. It made Harry very uncomfortable. He just didn’t like people looking at him that much since he knew he wasn’t much to look at. Sure, a lot of people liked him and wanted to date him, but he was sure that they only wanted him for his fame. If he weren’t Harry Potter, then no one would pay any attention to him.
“Not much to look at, huh?” he joked and tried to ease the slight tension that had built.
+++
Severus stared incredulously at Potter. Not much to look at? Was the man daft or did he just not own a mirror? “Potter, you’ve hinted at something like that all day. I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.” Severus scowled. He hated not being in on the joke. It made him feel like the joke was being played on him.
“Look,” Potter said almost defensively, “I know I’m not the best looking bloke alright? It just makes me uncomfortable when people point it out to me.”
“You’re kidding right?” Severus laughed. Potter looked hurt, much too hurt for the situation, and Severus abruptly stopped. Potter really believed that didn’t he? “Potter, who has been going around and filling your head with this idiotic notion that you’re not attractive?”
Potter looked down at his food and sighed. “No one needs to tell me alright? My mirror lets me hear enough of that thank you very much.”
Potter looked so dejected that Severus wanted to pet him. Either that or put him down and end his suffering. He really did need to get this image of Potter as a pup out of his head. This was heading down to a very weird territory. “Your mirror?” he asked. Mirrors weren’t supposed to insult their owners, not unless Potter had been moronic enough to get the wrong mirror. “What is your mirror’s name?”
Potter lifted his head and looked up with confusion clear on his face. “Name? Mirrors have names?”
Severus shook his head and took a deep, calming breath. He was on a date with the town idiot. “Potter, all mirrors have names. I’m beginning to suspect that your mirror is insulting you because you don’t know its name and have never called it by its name.”
“I didn’t even realize mirrors had names!” Potter looked genuinely surprised.
“When you bought it, did you not bother to read the engraved name on the back of it?”
Potter shook his head. “I thought that was the name of the mirror’s last owner, and that he had carved his name on there so that it couldn’t get stolen as easily.” Incredulous laughter started to bubble forth from Potter and Severus very nearly wanted to slap him silly. The boy was an idiot.
“No, Potter,” he said with as much patience as he could muster, “that is in fact the mirror’s name. Now, if you want it to stop insulting you, I suggest you start calling it by its proper name. I also suggest that if you have a female mirror, that you go buy a male one. That could also be a contributory factor.”
“No, it’s a male one, I’m sure.” Potter laughed some more. It wasn’t even laughing anymore. It was giggling! Severus was rightly appalled.
+++
Harry laughed at the slightly disgusted look on Snape’s face. Snape looked like he was caught between wanting to slap Harry and wanting to laugh. The situation was indeed very funny though. He had never heard of such a thing and that would explain why his mirror was so hostile towards him. He would be grouchy too if someone continued to speak with him without even acknowledging his name.
“Thanks, Severus,” Harry laughed, “I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Snape denied.
“Yes, I do. You’ve allowed me to take you out on a date, you’ve put up with me the whole day, you’ve given me a chance to be a part of ground breaking research, and now you’ve rescued me from my abusive mirror. I definitely owe you.”
“Potter, we really don’t owe each other anything.”
“Stop being modest, Severus, I owe you more than you know.” Harry grew bold and mischievous as the idea hit him. It was so Slytherin that even Snape would have to appreciate it. “I think for all your troubles, I owe you another date.”
+++
Severus smirked at the very unsubtle attempt Potter had just made. “Are you perhaps trying to Slytherin your way into a second date?” He raised an eyebrow at Potter.
“If I am,” Potter said seriously, “would it work?”
Severus considered this. He looked down to his bag of potion ingredients, then to the plate of his fish and chips, and then finally to the Venus fly trap that was sitting happily on the bar. Potter certainly had an inclination towards prickly, generally disliked things, didn’t he?
Severus thought carefully. He had indeed had a very good time, and Potter had been surprisingly easy to get along with. He was definitely attracted to Potter, as the wine incident at lunch had clearly indicated. A small, insecure part of him still thought that Potter would end up treating him as Black had, but mentally and emotionally he knew that Potter would do no such thing. The question now was whether or not he would allow himself the chance to try and make this work with Potter. He clearly didn’t need to, but Severus found himself very much wanting to.
“Perhaps,” Severus finally said with a small smile. “Perhaps.”