snarrymod (snarrymod) wrote in snarry_games, @ 2006-04-30 11:42:00 |
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Original poster: snarrymod
Title: Tactical Invitation
Author: diagonalist
Rating/Warnings: Warnings/Kinks/Ratings Pop-Up
Summary: Considering the complications of their past, Severus avoids becoming too close with Harry. Harry finds his way around this.
A/N: Written for the snarry_games; Team Romance prompt ‘Scruples.’
Betas: ntamara and synn, who did a fantastic job. All remaining faults are my own for ignoring what they told me.
At the end of classes every day, Severus regarded his classroom with the defeated air of a man who’d lost a war. Congealing blackferry puss dripped forlornly from table edges, eyeballs and entrails squelched unpleasantly underfoot, and, more often than not, a new pattern of brilliant scorches adorned the ceiling.
Cleaning up in between classes was like trying to stem a flood tide. Perhaps it was pointless to clean up at all, except eventually there would come a point when the lab would become too hazardous to enter, and the health and safety department of the Ministry (incompetent though they were) would demand its closure due to hygiene issues. Really the word hygiene had no place associating with the little beasts he dealt with every day – foul smelling, noses always running, putting their grubby fingers into their mouths after touching poisonous concoctions… Severus still winced at the memory of Pomfrey’s voluble lecture on the subject; as if he were responsible for their behaviour!
“Professor Snape, I-” Severus looked up from the oozing floor to the rather less appealing sight of Potter’s face. “Wow,” the boy said unintelligently.
“Is there a reason for this unwarranted interruption?” Severus asked.
Potter nudged a precariously balanced cauldron with a look of fascination.
Severus resisted the urge to assign detention. Potter was, unfortunately, too old. “Is everyone else so delighted to put their business aside for precious seconds of your time that you assume I am equally starving for your company?”
Potter looked up and frowned at that. “I needed to talk to you.” Carefully walking between potentially toxic puddles of various colours, Potter searched his robes for whatever trivial matter had brought him here to infect Severus’ air. “Here, I thought that you-”
“You thought?” Severus sneered. “The probability of you having an original thought is lower than the probability of that fraud Trelawney giving a real prophecy.”
“She’s had four now, you know,” Potter said helpfully.
“I see. Have you already had your four original thoughts in life, or are you saving them up for a special occasion?”
“Hey!” The boy was at last starting to look indignant. “Despite your opinion, there are people out there who think I’m reasonably intelligent.”
“Oh yes,” Severus drawled. “Your grovelling sycophants. Who could forget the esteem such people hold you in? You, Mr. Potter, are nothing but an idiotic, careless, completely brainless Gryffindor, and obviously inherited your mind from your worthless slug of a father. The drooling gives it away.” Snape drew himself up triumphantly, and prepared to deliver the final blow.
His victory was postponed by Potter thrusting a piece of paper into his hands.
“Yes, and you’re a cantankerous git,” Potter said, voice full of strained calm. “But I need you to be serious for a moment.”
Severus saw the look in Potter’s eyes, and grumbled unhappily. “Very well,” he said as he scanned the scroll, “But I’d been saving those insults up for nearly two weeks. Where on earth have you been?”
“You’ll see if you would actually read the thing!”
Severus read it. Then he sat down, rather heavily. “I quit.”
“Okay, that wasn’t quite the response I was looking for.” Harry leaned against the table. “I wanted your advice.”
“My advice.” Severus gave a hollow laugh. “What do I know? Take it. Take the position. But I quit.”
“Be serious. Please?”
“Oh, I am, Mr. Potter.” Standing abruptly, Severus began piling up the things on his desk. “I will be gone by the morning. Should you wish to hire someone marginally competent for either Defence Against the Dark Arts or Potions, I will provide a list of recommendations.”
Harry looked bewildered, and moved to block his actions. “But, Snape, why? I won’t take it, if you think it’s such a bad idea. You shouldn’t leave.”
“I’m going.” Severus couldn’t collect his things as fast as the boy was stubbornly putting them back in their places again. He pulled out his wand and cast a spell to send everything flying swiftly to his rooms. That settled things.
“No, I don’t want you to.” Severus couldn’t quite decipher Harry’s motives, or the tone of his voice, but it seemed genuine. Making this all the harder for him. “I’ll tell them no. What would you do, where would you go? And why?”
Severus shook his head, torn between irritation and… something else. “Stop being an idiot, Potter, it suits you too well. I’m perfectly capable of surviving on my own. And since when did what I do or think matter in the slightest to your pig headed brain anyway?”
Snape turned to leave, and Harry repeated quietly, “I’ll say no.”
Fixing him with a glare, Severus shoved the scroll back into Harry’s unresisting hands. “The bloody walls have started humming as you pass. The stones light up beneath your feet, and the constellations in the great hall have started to greatly resemble your face. I know that you’re accustomed to thinking of yourself as a god, Mr. Potter, but these signs do in fact indicate something else. Do us all a favour and heed them.”
He left, and Harry was left staring at the door he slammed behind him.
A week later, Harry Potter was officially confirmed as Headmaster of Hogwarts.