snarryhols (snarryhols) wrote in snarry_holidays, @ 2007-11-14 11:25:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | fic, post-dh: ewe, rated: pg-13 |
The Tea House, for sealcat
Title: The Tea House
Author: katling
Giftee: sealcat
Word Count: 2290
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Severus/Harry
Warnings: Spoilers for DH
Disclaimer: They’re JK Rowling’s, not mine, I just wish they were.
Summary: A tall black-clad man in a tea house? Harry gets a surprise one afternoon then takes a chance.
The tall man with long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, black eyes and a scarred throat stood in the back room of the tea house he ran and carefully measured dried leaves from large tins into a large mixing bowl. It was careful methodical work and it allowed him to think as he worked. Most of the time he thought about his tea house, his home, the bills that were due, the book he was reading, the potion brewing in the secret basement in his house but today his thoughts had taken an unusual turn. Today he was thinking about the past.
Severus Snape rarely thought about the past. There was little there that he wanted to remember and what little he did usually consisted of questions he couldn’t answer. The main one of those being how did he survive? He remembered dying. Or at least he’d thought he’d died. He remembered Nagini biting him, he remembered the pain and blood, he remembered giving up his memories to Potter then he remembered that everything went black.
The next thing he remembered was waking in the dark in the Shrieking Shack, lying in a pool of his own congealed blood. He hadn’t really known what thought had forced him to his feet, out of the Shack and away from Hogsmeade and the wizarding world but whatever it had been, he’d ended up being grateful for it. It had taken him several weeks to recover, hiding in his home at Spinner’s End, fearing that at any moment the Ministry would break in and find him. Once he had recovered, he’d scrounged up the ingredients to make some Polyjuice then disguised himself and crept into the wizarding world.
It was then that he’d found out that he was considered to be dead. Not only dead but a hero... some kind of dark hero... all thanks to Potter. He’d been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class, posthumously of course. It even seemed that he’d been forgiven for killing Albus.
He’d shuddered away from all of that. He’d once thought that he wanted that sort of recognition but when faced with the reality, he’d turned his back on the wizarding world and hidden himself in the Muggle world.
He’d fallen into his current career by accident. He’d been sourcing potion ingredients and had instead received a variety of teas of all things. He’d been furious at first but eventually he’d shrugged and decided he could always drink the tea so it wasn’t a complete waste. Unfortunately he’d misjudged how much he’d had and it had been the offhand comment from one of his annoying, irritating and constantly interfering neighbours that had set him on his current path. She’d come around and almost bullied him into making her a cup of tea... then she’d praised his ability and suggested that he’d do a better job of it than the man who ran the local tea house. Severus had had to agree with her; the tea served in the shop was the next best thing to dish water.
He’d been walking past the shop a couple of weeks later and seen a sign in the window offering a job and some mad thought had dragged him inside to enquire. That had been three years ago and now Severus ran the shop. The man who had originally owned it had sold it to him two years ago and somehow Severus had become a respectable local businessman.
He found it amusing by and large. He knew those in the wizarding world would be gobsmacked to see the feared Death Eater Severus Snape running a tea house of all things... and doing so under an assumed name. He’d largely left his old name behind when he’d hidden himself in the Muggle world. Instead of Severus Snape, the man running the tea house was known to those who came there as Brain Evans.
Severus scowled as he stared down into the large mixing bowl. He usually didn’t go around dredging these memories up and he probably wouldn’t have today... except for the young couple who had come into the shop that morning.
Thankfully, he had not been needed to serve out in the shop. He had two girls who did that. They were far prettier and even if they were as thick as two short planks, the customers liked them and they did their work well. But he had gone out to bring a couple of tins of tea that were needed and had seen the couple come in.
He’d recognised them immediately, of course, and had hidden himself in the shadows of the doorway immediately. He’d watched suspiciously for several minutes, wondering what in Merlin’s name Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley were doing in his tea house. Had someone discovered where he was and Potter had been sent to confirm it?
He’d believed that for several minutes... up until the point when Potter and Weasley started a low-voiced arguement that had lead to Weasley storming out. That had been genuine enough, he’d seen enough arguments in the past to judge a manufactured one from a real one. Potter had stayed at the table, sipping at his tea morosely and staring out the window. Severus had disappeared into the back room and stayed there until closing.
He sighed and tipped the tea he’d been blending into a large tin, labelling it neatly then putting everything away. He was too distracted to do this and if he was going to brood, he could do that at home more comfortably than he could here. Not that he really needed to brood. It wasn’t as if Potter was ever going to reappear in his shop ever again.
****************************************
Severus arrived at his shop early the next morning, feeling tired and distinctly grouchy. He’d had a largely sleepless night and he really didn’t want to consider why. He had enough difficulties in his life without considering Potter and all of the baggage that came with him.
Unfortunately his opportunity to hide in the back room and brood was ruined by both girls calling in sick. He suspected they were instead hungover but that didn’t change the fact that they weren’t here and that meant that he would have to serve in the shop. He fought hard to keep the scowl off his face; he’d been told several times that it scared the customers, especially in combination with the scars on his throat.
The day was quiet and Severus was starting to think that he might just get away without being utterly annoyed by anyone overly stupid when the door opened and Potter walked in. Severus froze and a myriad of thoghts about hiding, denying or just running darted through his mind then Potter looked over and he too froze.
They stared at each other for a very long moment then Severus made sure his face was expressionless as he walked out from behind the counter.
“Can I help you?” he asked, his tone blandly polite and his expression showing no recognition.
He kept the mask in place as Potter stared at him suspiciously then tried to make his own expression bland. Severus was amused to see that Potter failed miserably at that but the young man had never been overly subtle.
“Uh... Earl Grey?” Potter said hesitantly.
Severus nodded then headed back behind the counter. This was probably the easiest way of dealing with Potter – act like he didn’t know who the man was. He took his time getting the tea ready then he took it out to the table Potter had sat down at, quickly turning and heading back behind the counter before Potter could try and start any conversation. Thankfully before Potter could try anything, a gaggle of elderly women came in and Severus was caught up in serving them and trying to make polite conversation with them. By the time he finished serving them, Potter had finished his tea and disappeared.
Severus very firmly put Potter and all thoughts of the wizarding world out of his mind and concentrated on his work. When the end of the day arrived and he was finally able to shoo the last customer out and lock the door, he gave a sigh of relief and ducked into the back room. He had just leaned against the table when he suddenly tensed and looked quickly around the room. His hand crept towards his wand as he tried to determine what was wrong then he scowled fiercely as he debated with himself.
“Show yourself, Potter,” he snarled, giving in to the inevitable.
For a moment nothing happened then there was a shimmer in one corner of the room and Potter appeared from underneath his invisibility cloak.
“Bloody hell. You’re alive,” Harry said, staring at Severus with a shock that hadn’t lessened all day.
“Obviously,” Severus said grimly. “What are you doing here and what will make you go away and forget you ever saw me?”
Harry frowned and looked confused. “What do you mean? You’re a hero in the wizarding world... you’ve got the respect you deserve.”
“I don’t care,” Severus replied.
Harry fell silent and stared at Severus for a long moment. “There’s nothing that would tempt you back into the wizarding world?” he asked, an odd note in his voice.
Severus pushed away the thoughts that abruptly rose. “No.”
“Liar,” Harry said with a small smirk.
Severus arched and eyebrow and sneered. “Hardly.”
Harry’s smirk widened. “I saw it. The other memory. The one that was hidden within the memory of sending your patronus to lead me to the sword.”
Severus took a step back, his face slowly flushing as he recalled the memory in question. He had no doubt as to what Potter was referring to. A memory of Severus pleasuring himself in his rooms one evening and the name he called as he came had not been ‘Lily’... it had been ‘Harry’.
“I saw it,” Harry said with a smug smile. “And I liked it.”
Severus eyed the young man warily. “What of the Weasley girl? You were in here with her.”
“Ginny and I are just friends,” Harry said in an offhand manner. “She knows. Bit hard for her not to when I called your name during sex instead of hers. She was a bit angry for a while but she’s forgiven me.” He grinned and shrugged. “I think Neville had a lot to do with that.”
“This is a joke, isn’t it?” Severus said suspiciously. “Your revenge for the way I treated you at school.”
Harry snorted and started walking towards Severus. “Do you know how many times I’ve viewed that memory? It shocked the hell out of me the first time I saw it and to be honest, initially I was horrified. But I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I kept thinking about it again and again and again. You looked so damn hot in that memory, which is surprising given what you usually look like. I started jerking off to that memory, which didn’t do a lot for my relationship with Ginny but it did a lot for the standard of my orgasms.”
All during this speech, Harry had been slowly walking forward and Severus had been backtracking until his back hit the wall. Harry didn’t stop though, he kept walking until his last statement was made with his body pressed against Severus’.
Severus swallowed hard then flicked one hand, bringing his wand out of its hiding place in his sleeve and a moment later he had Harry bound to a chair.
“Hey!” Harry protested. “No fair! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Waiting,” Severus said darkly, unable to believe that this was actually Harry Potter.
“Waiting,” Harry said dubiously as he tested his bonds. He knew he could probably break them if he really tried but then a thought occurred to him and he sighed with a hint of exasperation. “You really are the most suspicious man I’ve ever met, Sev.”
Severus’ eyes narrowed. “That is how I survived as long as I did.”
“Well, true,” Harry conceded. “So an hour then?”
“Yes,” Severus snapped then he crossed his arms over his chest and refused to answer any further questions.
They waited silently; Severus patiently and suspiciously, Harry with an amused exasperation. When an hour past with nothing happening, Harry raised his eyebrows.
“Well? Are you going to let me go now?”
Severus frowned. “What do you want from me?”
Harry yanked at the ropes binding him. “Uh, Sev?”
Severus hesitated for a moment then gave a flick of his wand. The ropes loosened and fell to the floor. Harry got to his feet and walked over to Severus, stopping right in front of him.
“You’ve been gone too long,” he said with a small smile. “You haven’t seen everything I’ve gone through, all the ways I’ve changed. What do I want from you? Whatever you’ll give to me.”
Severus stared at him, his dark eyes full of suspicion. His experience was that he did not get things that he wanted. Harry took a few more steps forward until they were pressed together again. He stared into Severus’ eyes as he leaned up and pressed his lips against the older man’s. For a moment Severus didn’t respond then he suddenly relaxed a little and returned the kiss. Harry moaned into the kiss and worked to deepen it, wrapping his arms around Severus as he did so. When the kiss finally ended, the two men were wrapped around each other.
“What now?” Severus asked, his eyes full of doubt and uncertainty.
Harry leaned up and gave him a quick kiss. “We go home.”