Title: Side Effects
Author: celandineb
Characters/Pairings: Draco/Severus
Rating: NC17
Kinks/Themes Chosen: sex under the influence
Other Warnings: blowjobs, cross-gen
Word Count: 2525
Summary/Description: Severus is developing a new potion, and decides it needs some testing – on Draco's birthday.
Author's Notes: Post-DH, so obviously AU as Severus has survived.


Severus added two drops of essence of lionfish spine to the cauldron, paused, then added one more. He stirred briskly thirty times counterclockwise and watched in satisfaction as the steaming potion gradually turned to a bright silvery lavender.

It looked the way his calculations had predicted. Would it have the desired effect, was the question, and the only way to determine that was to test it.

"Draco?" he called, unsure whether the younger man was still in the next room.

"What is it?" Draco popped his head through the doorway. "I've nearly finished packaging up that Baldness Serum. I was just about to take it to the post."

Since Severus's near-miraculous survival – achieved only because he had routinely dosed himself with every poison antidote and antivenin known – and almost equally miraculous exoneration by the Wizengamot – for which he had reluctantly to thank Harry Potter – he had retired from teaching and opened a mail order potions business. A year later he had accepted Draco Malfoy as a partner, business having expanded to the point where he could no longer manage it all himself.

Draco had made clear that he would like to take that formal partnership into a more intimate arrangement, but until now Severus had been reluctant. Today, however, was Draco's birthday, and although Severus did not think his own aging body was much of a gift, he planned to offer it to Draco nonetheless. His new potion was an inhibition-lowering aphrodisiac, or at least that was what he hoped. Tonight would be an excellent time to test it on himself... and on Draco as well. He had no compunction about slipping a dose into Draco's drink. The testing would be more accurate on an unaware subject, and given Severus's ability at Legilimency, he had no fear that Draco would refuse it if he did know.

"All right. Seven o'clock tonight, remember." Severus had invited Draco to his flat that evening, and Draco had accepted; what excuse he'd given his parents for not joining them instead Severus neither knew nor cared.

"I remember." Draco vanished back into the other room, and soon Severus heard the outside door close.

His hands moved steadily, straining and decanting the viscous lavender liquid into small bottles, one of which he slipped into a pocket of his robes. He labelled them in his fine writing and arranged them in the cupboard behind a row of bottles of Sleeping Draught, not wanting Draco to read the name if he should come back to their workshop before going to Severus's.

Severus was not an ambitious cook. The meal he had planned was simple: lobster bisque from a tin, boiled sprouts, parsleyed potatoes, and grilled lamb chops. He made sure to have plenty of chops; something about the plump curve of meat, small and yet full-flavoured, always tempted Severus to eat more than he probably should. He laid the table and poured wine into two glasses, adding a dose of his potion to each.

Draco arrived promptly on time, and Severus greeted him with, "Happy birthday."

"Thank you." Draco regarded him with a quizzical expression.

"What?" asked Severus.

"Nothing." To Severus's surprise, Draco flushed. Catching his eye, Severus sensed a mixture of confusion and elation, and caught a brief image of the two of them embracing.

He'd had only a sip of his wine before Draco's arrival, not really enough for the potion to have had much if any effect, but on impulse he put his arms around Draco, repeating, "Happy birthday, Draco."

Draco hugged him back tightly. Severus felt the warmth of Draco's breath against his neck. He allowed the embrace to continue for a few more moments, then gently disengaged.

"Dinner's nearly ready. I just need to finish grilling the chops. How well done do you prefer your lamb?"

"Pink," answered Draco. He followed Severus into the tiny kitchen and watched as Severus dished up the potatoes and sprouts and poured soup into bowls. "I'll carry those out to the table," he offered.

"Thank you," said Severus, and turned the chops over to finish.

Over the meal they talked a little bit about work, more about general events. Severus could tell that the potion was having some effect. When Draco announced with a tiny smirk that given that he knew Severus so well, he wasn't going to stand on ceremony but would pick up his chop bones to get the last of the delicious meat from them, Severus could scarcely take his eyes from the younger man's mouth. He had an impulse to lick Draco's face clean of the lamb grease.

"Severus."

"Hmm?"

"I appreciate your having me here tonight." Draco's gray eyes were darker than usual as he fixed them on Severus.

"You're welcome." Severus looked at his plate, decided he should not have another chop, and put down his knife and fork. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, but before he could lay it down, Draco reached out to take his wrist and brought the napkin to his own mouth, his gaze never wavering.

His potion had some unexpected side effects, Severus realised as he succumbed to his impulse to let the cloth fall and touched Draco's face. As well as lowering his inhibitions, the potion was heightening his senses, even altering his perceptions. He could feel the bristle of each hair on Draco's cheek distinct beneath his fingers, and the combination of softness and roughness captivated him. Draco responded to his light caress like a cat, arching his neck and rubbing his cheek against Severus's hand in shameless flirtation.

"Don't stop," he said when Severus would have paused to try to analyse his own reaction to the potion. "Please, Severus."

The pitch of Draco's voice had deepened since his school days, and tonight it was lower than ever, throaty with desire. Severus could smell the cologne that Draco preferred; either he had refreshed it before arriving for dinner or smell was another sense affected by the potion, for Severus was almost overwhelmed by the with the woody, musky aroma, stronger even than the lingering scent of the grilled lamb.

"Come," was the only word he could manage as rose. Draco's eyes went wide and he nodded, following Severus to his bedroom.

There Severus unbuttoned his robes with hands that trembled, however firmly he willed them not to. Draco watched with grave attention, sprawled across Severus's bed as though he owned it, one hand unfastening his own robes. Had it not been for Severus's certainty that Draco desired him – although he had never understood just why that was the case; Draco had so many other more suitable choices – Severus would have been embarrassed as the last of his clothes fell away to reveal his aging body. There were white hairs sprinkled liberally in the black thatch on his chest, and even a few at his groin. His prick was only beginning to respond, and he reached for it to stroke it to hardness, but Draco forestalled him.

"I've dreamed of this," Draco murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting a hand on Severus's hip to draw him closer. When Draco's lips opened around the head of his cock and a warm moist tongue dragged over the slit, Severus moaned and clutched at Draco's shoulders for support.

The potion was affecting his vision now too. As he glanced down at Draco's sleek blond head, he thought he saw a rainbowed halo hovering there. One tiny rational part of his mind made note of the hallucination, but all the rest of him focussed on the incredible sensation of being sucked off by Draco. Severus's prior experience was, admittedly, rather limited and not that recent, but he had had some excellent blow jobs in the past, and this one left them all in the dust. It had to be the potion. He could not hold back; he had no time even to grunt out a warning to Draco before he came, shuddering in ecstasy as his semen pulsed into Draco's throat.

"It's all right," said Draco as Severus began to stammer out an apology. "That is, as long as you're willing to take care of me next?"

Severus bent and kissed him then for the first time, tasting himself in Draco's mouth, and, fainter, the lamb and wine from dinner. He staggered with the intensity of it and would have fallen except for Draco's steadying arms around him.

"Whatever you want, I'll do," he said to Draco, and meant it. It had taken him years to acknowledge his attraction to the younger man, once his pupil, and even now it had required the assistance of his own potion to break down his lingering inhibitions, but once Severus had made up his mind to do something, he would take no half-measures.

Draco licked his lips. "Would you let me fuck you?" he asked, the note of uncertainty in his voice at odds with his direct phrasing.

"Certainly, if that's what you want." Severus reached to open the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a vial of lubricant. His own make, it was antiseptic, with a warming tingle when applied. "Shall I ride you?" he suggested. "Or would you prefer to take me from behind?"

"Ride me," said Draco, and stretched out on the bed again, propping himself up with pillows.

Severus took up a fingerful of his lubricant and applied it. He didn't require much; the stuff was potent and Severus preferred to ease himself down, letting Draco's cock stretch him out, rather than subjecting them both to the delay of a long preparation.

"Oh – oh!" gasped Draco when Severus's cock was completely inside him. Severus could smell salt as tiny droplets of sweat broke forth around Draco's hair line. The visual hallucinations had intensified too, but Severus forced himself to look into Draco's wide gray eyes as he flexed his thighs to first raise, then lower himself again on Draco's prick. He caught flickers of Draco's thoughts, enough to know that just as Severus had, Draco was experiencing perhaps the most intense sexual experience of his life. Draco fumbled for Severus's cock. His touch and the feedback loop of Legilimency between them made Severus as hard as if he had not come mere moments earlier. Involuntarily his arsehole clenched, drawing another deep groan from Draco that was matched by the one that forced itself from Severus's throat.

"Oh god oh Severus oh yes," Draco babbled, his hand gripping Severus's prick in a grasp that just avoided being so tight as to cause pain. "Oh now oh now!"

The moment of Draco's orgasm leapt between them through the connection of Legilimency, triggering a second release from Severus that spattered through Draco's fist and onto his narrow chest.

Draco's head was tilted back on the pillows, his eyes closed as he panted. Severus raised himself with a little difficulty, feeling the trickle of Draco's spunk down his thigh as he awkwardly shifted to lie down. After two orgasms in such quick succession, he was exhausted, but he fought to stay awake and observe the potion's effects.

It was unquestionably successful in lowering inhibitions and stimulating the libido. The heightening of all senses was not necessarily a bad side effect, although Severus was displeased that in the visual range it was so extreme as to cause minor hallucinations. He would need to adjust the recipe to ameliorate that outcome. A potion like this one could easily be considered questionable by the Ministry to begin with, given that it could be used to overcome a person's will, and he did not want it to find a secondary market as a hallucinogen.

Perhaps he had better confess to Draco what he had done, to get Draco's reaction to the potion.

"Draco," he murmured.

"Hm?" Draco sounded sleepy and content.

Severus cleared his throat. "I, er, should perhaps apologise. I dosed both of our wine with something I'm working on. I needed to test it, you see, preferably on someone who didn't know what it was supposed to do and therefore could not be swayed by any pre-existing expectations."

"I see," said Draco slowly. "So why are you telling me now?"

"Because I need to know what it did to you, and if the effects were similar for both of us."

"So that's why –" Draco didn't finish the sentence, but his face assumed an expression of mild disappointment. "Er, well. I suppose, thinking about it, perhaps it was the potion that made everything feel much more intense, more alive." He bit his lip. "I've wanted to go to bed with you for ages, as I'm sure you know, but it was more mind blowing than I ever imagined. I guess that was due to the potion, then?"

"It might have been." Severus let out a breath and acknowledged, "It was amazing for me, too. Perhaps, er, we should repeat it another time, as a control to see what was caused by the potion, and what not."

Draco gave him a dazzling smile. "Yes."

"Any other reactions?" Severus prompted.

"Other than everything being so much more than usual? Not really."

Severus didn't want to ask leading questions, lest he affect Draco's replies, but the younger man was being less helpful than he'd hoped, with his nonspecific answers. "Would you say it lowered your inhibitions?"

At that Draco laughed. "Severus, my inhibitions with you could not have been lower. If you'd only asked, you could have had me any time since I was fourteen."

Severus blinked. He hadn't realised that Draco's feelings, too, went back so far.

"Just one thing," Draco went on. He suddenly appeared vulnerable, younger than his twenty-one years. "Did you have sex with me just because you needed someone to help test your potion?"

"No," said Severus. "That was not the only reason." He paused, marshaling his thoughts to explain. "You may have fancied me since your mid-teens, and I can't deny that I had feelings for you too, but recall that at that time I was not only your teacher, but your Head of House and your parents' friend, especially your father's. It would have been reprehensible to have taken advantage of the situation. Even if I had not had personal qualms about it, Dumbledore always knew precisely what was going on within the walls of Hogwarts, although he did not necessarily demonstrate his knowledge. Had I, had we, done anything at all, he would have known, and I would have been sacked."

With hindsight, Severus regretted that he had not realised Draco's feelings at the time, had not allowed Draco to have some inkling of his own. Perhaps if he had done so, Draco would have trusted him more, and Severus might not now have Dumbledore's death on his conscience. Sternly he told himself that there was no purpose served by regretting such might-have-beens.

Lost in his own musings, he was taken by surprise when Draco embraced him.

"I'm sorry, Severus."

Severus did not ask why. He put his own arms around Draco and held him close. The future opened out ahead of them, and they would go into it together.