Title: Forgiven, Never Forgotten
Character(s): Albus/Severus
Rating(s): R
Chosen kinks: Confessions, Frottage
Word Count: 1235
Beta: Posted on the fly due to me forgetting what month and day it was. Con-crit and quibbles very welcome.

Summary: Severus can't apologise to Lupin, but his actions have always spoken louder than his words where Albus is concerned.

Disclaimer: All familiar characters and situations belong to JK Rowling. No profit is being made.


The door shut quietly behind the newcomer, and Albus put down his quill and leant back in his chair. While he had been expecting a visit from Severus, he found himself studying the young man carefully, trying to gauge the exact nature of what he had come to stay. There were two choices, really, but neither of them was plain on the thin, sallow face: while Severus didn't look particularly happy, he wasn't avoiding Albus' gaze.

"I suppose that you are happy with yourself," Albus said, trying to provoke an answer.

The tightening of Severus' cheek muscles betrayed his reluctance to speak, but it was only two ticks of the clock on the wall before Severus replied, "No. I have come to apologise."

Albus let out a long breath and waved his hand at the armchair in front of his desk. So it was a confession that he was about to receive. Severus had probably glutted himself with boasting to the parents of the Slytherin children in his care. He raised his wand to summon tea, and then changed his mind, not wanting to soften the blow Severus sorely deserved.

"Proceed," he said, once Severus had sat down on the edge of the armchair. The young man had long ago learnt the trick of not sinking back into the chair's lulling comfort. For once Albus was glad of it. Severus didn't deserve even illusionary comfort after what he had done. If Severus thought that he was going to receive absolution, he was mistaken.

Albus almost smiled. If he thought that Severus had come here to be comforted, he was also deluding himself.

"Forgive me, Albus," Severus began once he had become bored with the silence between them. "I have done something terrible to a man who didn't deserve it. My temper got the better of me and I vented my anger on the nearest at hand. I shouldn't have revealed Lupin's secret, and I regret it."

"Have you told Remus as much?" Albus inquired, knowing what the answer would be. It was a sign of Severus' modicum of shame that he didn't vocalise the negative, merely shaking his head instead.

"Obviously you do not regret it enough," Albus pointed out.

Some of Severus' usual, defensive anger sparked in reaction: "He was a danger to the children. He almost attacked Potter. The man couldn't be trusted to do something as simple as take a potion on time!"

"I believe that the circumstances were exceptional."

Severus got to his feet, pacing a few angry steps towards the fireplace. His back was to Albus, but the rounding of his shoulders, and the fact that he had crossed his arms again betrayed the small, vulnerable part of Severus that recognised what he had done had been done out of nothing more than spite.

Deciding to summon the tea after all, Albus poured himself out a cup, settling back in his chair and taking sips as he watched the slim figure draped in black. Severus' hair had grown again, falling to just below his hunched shoulder blades, separated into clumps by the poor state Severus habitually allowed it to fall into. Despite the defensive posture, Severus was rigid and might have been a statue if it weren't for the sometimes audible sound of his teeth grinding.

Tea drunk, Albus finally got to his feet and approached Severus. Standing directly behind him, Albus' beard brushed the cloth of Severus' robes as he leaned over the shorter man to talk lowly by his ear.

"Do you regret it?"

Severus didn't flinch. He had broken himself of that habit a long time ago. The answer was an immediate and empathetic, "Yes!"

"Yet not enough to apologise to Remus directly."

The reply was longer in coming this time. "No."

Albus shuffled closer, the drape of his robes now resting against Severus' back as well as his lengthy beard. He raised his hands to lightly clasp Severus' biceps.

"What will you do?" he asked.

Severus' arms dropped to his sides and his back straightened. "I will continue to brew the Wolfsbane for him, but I will not apologise."

Albus nodded, his chin rubbing against Severus' ear. "I think he will appreciate the potion more than words you do not mean."

"Do you wish for me to apologise to him?" Severus demanded, forcing Albus to tighten his grip to keep the younger man from moving away.

"I require you to do only what your conscience demands of you," Albus replied, his light tone belying the heavy price Severus' conscience had already made him pay; Severus' conscience, and Albus' distain for a broken young man who had barely comprehended just how many lives his self-indulgent rage had destroyed.

Albus' disgust had waned over the years; Severus' comprehension had grown; and step by step they had drawn closer. Albus wrapped his arms around Severus as the younger man leant back.

"The potion will be my apology," Severus said.

"Your actions have always spoken louder than your words," Albus tauntingly agreed.

For a moment it seemed like Severus might lose his temper, but then he submitted, pushing his bottom against Albus' groin and tilting his face sideways and upwards so that Albus could claim a kiss. The anger was still there in the aggressive way Severus captured and sucked on his tongue, but there was also acceptance in the way Severus' arms lifted up and back, hands hooking behind Albus' shoulders and pulling him closer as Albus groped at the front of Severus' robes.

Pressing kisses along Severus' jaw and down his long throat, Albus chastised him for having lost his temper so spectacularly in front of the Minister for Magic. Severus hissed and swore as cold, elderly hands slipped into his robes, tweaking a nipple here, tugging a lengthening erection there.

"The Minister can go to Hades," Severus pronounced, arching his back. "I know Potter helped Black, and I know you helped Potter."

Albus tutted and herded Severus towards the nearest wall, almost too near the fireplace for comfort. He turned Severus around before enjoying the action of roughly shoving the man up against stone.

"You came here to confess to me," he admonished, covering Severus' body with his own and rocking his hips against him. "Don't try to turn things around."

"I would never try that," Severus panted, bucking up against Albus, his arms wrapping around Albus' shoulders in a much more satisfying way now that Severus was facing him.

Albus' eyes lit up with his amusement and he pressed his lips to Severus', rubbing himself with more fervour against the slim body in front of him. It had taken less years for the physical need to develop between them than it had for genuine respect, but with the dawning of trust the desperate need to rut and burn out their mutual hatred had lowered to a desire for true intimacy, even if it was simply humour shared after an argument, or a kiss shared while leisurely frotting themselves to completion.

Both men tensed for the last time that evening, their bony hips bruising each other as they tried to crush out their climax. Albus relaxed against Severus, letting the younger man take his weight now that pleasant satiation had sapped his energy.

"I'm sorry," Severus murmured as they made their way through to the back of the office and Albus' chambers beyond.

"You're forgiven," Albus replied.