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Albus Severus Potter ([info]bp_albusseverus) wrote in [info]breaking_point,
@ 2010-11-26 01:21:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:*complete, 2025 11, character: albus potter, character: severus snape

RP: Al, Severus
Who: Al, Severus
Where: Hogwarts, Severus' laboratory, then their rooms
When: November 26, 2025
Summary: It's a routine question, one Al is used to asking over and over...



It was another evening with Severus, and a promise of a weekend together.

The cauldron bottom was copper-orange and round, like a full moon. Al scrubbed it in a familiar circular motion, feeling the smooth surface of it under his fingertips. He lifted his head from his task.

Severus was at the workbench, stirring something steaming in a narrow cauldron suspended over the blue flames.

"What have you learned today?" Al asked a familiar by now question, because it was one worth asking over and over again.


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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-26 07:50 am UTC (link)
It had been another long evening spent, not slaving - because work undertaken with wholehearted willingness could never be counted slavery - but researching over a hot cauldron.

At the sound of Al's voice, Severus withdrew the rock-crystal stirring rod from the potion. Drops of potion as blue as a summer sky swelled and fell softly from the rod's tip; he dared not shake them loose, knowing that a potion so delicate would resent such rough treatment.

He lifted his mind free from the deep unity with the potion that sometimes left him dizzy, as if his whole soul had spent hours gyring within the curved belly of the cauldron. He lifted his gaze away from the surface, his face away from the fumes; he waved a stasis charm over the potion and set the crystal rod aside, abandoning the work of the day and giving Al his full attention.

One of his wry, dry, fond smiles curled the corner of that thin mouth as he tilted his head and regarded Al with a dark, glittering gaze.

"I've learned that it's possible to spend an entire year intrigued, absorbed... happy, all because of the company of one other man."

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-26 08:05 am UTC (link)
Al grinned at words, written - mouthed. The blue quill at his side skip-hop-sprung from his parchment perch around to Al's right shoulder, then back to his left, leaving his hair in disarray.

"You weren't happy with me the entire year," he pointed out, with a lopsided smile. "In fact, you were rather displeased with my occupation the second time we've talked."

That much, Al could derive from facial expressions and the remembered tone of one's voice.

Then of course, when conversational hints failed, the request to leave, was rather plain and clear, even to Al.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-26 08:16 am UTC (link)
For a wonder, Severus actually mustered enough grace to look rueful: at least, as much of his expression as could be discerned past the heavy curtain of his hair.

"I was ...uncharacteristically hasty in my inferences, on that occasion." he conceded, in a shamefaced low mutter he trusted Al's clever quill to pick up.

But then, he squared bony shoulders and actually lifted his head. The gaunt face emerged from the black hood formed by heavy skeins of hair, and he declared firmly, "It was a mistake, one that led me to cast unjustified aspersions on your character. My only defense is that I have not made that mistake twice."

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-26 08:29 am UTC (link)
"I..." Al blinked.

"Um, I was pointing out a discrepancy in your statement, actually, not requesting an explanation or a defense of your actions."

He nodded. "It's understandable. Some people do not trust reporters." Or politicians... Or criminals...

At least Al was not the only untrustworthy individual when it came to his siblings, living or non-.

He raised his head from the cauldron to face Severus once more. "I'm very glad that you did trust me though, afterwards."

Al's lips stretched wide. "Very, very glad."

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-26 08:43 am UTC (link)
Severus inclined his head in mute thanks. "You must understand, I was under great stress at the time. And, to be perfectly frank," he continued in quieter tones, "I was at a complete loss to account for your behaviour. Why on earth would you want to spend time with me? Seasoning my cauldrons," he nodded at the copper gleaming in Al's hands, and gave one of his rare, flashing smiles. "I seized on my mistaken interpretation as the one possible explanation of your mysterious behaviour." He shook his head, huffing dry amusement. "It made no sense to me otherwise, that you would willingly spend time with me, especially in such a mundane activity."

It was a pity Al couldn't hear the complex timbre of old rue and wry fondness in that low voice.

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-27 02:08 am UTC (link)
Al tilted his head, traced the curve of the cauldron rim with an oiled hand.

"I haven't met many people who preferred silence and empty rooms to crowds before," he admitted. "Or preferred mundane tasks to talking."

His face held the most admiring, smitten smile. "Therefore it was so incredibly brilliant to find someone like me, so unexpectedly."

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-27 02:16 am UTC (link)
"I certainly haven't met many people who shared my preferences for peace and quiet," Severus replied. "And even in that tiny pool, people who preferred my company to their own family..." His voice trailed away and he shook his head.

"For a few years, as children, Lily preferred my company to her sister's. Still, keep in mind that that was no great recommendation of me, as Petunia was hardly pleasant company: she was always bitterly jealous of Lily's magic."

Severus met Al's gaze with a velvet-dark stare: it wasn't quite the inevitable, gravitational pull of Legilimency, but there was an intensity there, all the same. "...And then," he concluded simply, "there was you.

You preferred my company to your loving, attractive, popular family.

Of course I was mystified."

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-27 03:32 am UTC (link)
For a second Al closed his eyes, remembering, a different day just a year ago. "You were at the desk, reading. I told you I wanted to help and you let me..."

Al smiled. "You needed a 53% decoction of Actaea racemosa in water from Hogwarts' lake, in the size 3 copper." He held up the cauldron. "This size three copper. You said it so precisely, all in order, and I liked that. It was calming. That's when I began to like you, I think..."

He hugged the copper cauldron to himself, sitting cross-legged on the bench and looking up. "You didn't share your reading, but you told a joke. About the Hand of Glory. It was rather funny once I realised what it was." His lips twitched. "I was so worried that you'd somehow realize that my Outstanding in Potions was hardly worth the capitalization of the letter.

I didn't want to be banished to Bangladesh, I much preferred your lab."

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-27 04:40 am UTC (link)
Severus' eyes went wide. He was used to his own highly-retentive memory (it had saved his life more than once in his spying days), but it was both surprising and deeply flattering that "You remembered."

He strongly suspected that his current smile was showing a level of shyness that he'd by no means intended.

He regarded Al, sitting cradling the gleaming cauldron in his lap, like a fluffy owl keeping its egg warm.

And he shared a memory of his own. "When I accused you, of using me to get a story, I'd expected you to storm out, insulted. Instead, you looked so stricken, as if I'd stabbed you in the heart. And then you asked me - with this quaver in your voice, and your eyes so wide, "Are you going to Obliviate me?"

The fact that my simple attempt to send you away had caused you such pain, had made you leap to such a conclusion, was shocking to me.

In the time after you left - when I should have been basking in my victory, in my privacy - instead I felt ...alone. I fled that feeling, reaching for the absorption of inspiration.

That was when I came up with the first draft formula for Memorestore."

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-27 05:54 am UTC (link)
Memorestore.... Al's smile stretched so wide at those words. His eyes were bright.

The phial of it still rested on the nightstand, along with Al's glasses and reading.

"When you gave me the potion for Christmas," he smiled, "You let me hug you, afterwards. You invited me to hug you."

He shook his head.

"I didn't expect you to be so thin or so sharp-cornered then. It was like holding a grimoire in my arms. You even smelled like my books. It was brilliant!"

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-27 06:10 am UTC (link)
In a rare breach of lab protocols - though there wasn't anything actively brewing at the moment, and it was nothing a simple Scourgify wouldn't fix - Severus hitched himself up to sit beside Al on the workbench.

All the better to be able to drape one arm over Al's shoulders in a sideways hug, leaning in so they could rest, each supported by the other's body.

"I really hadn't been expecting you to want to hug me," Severus confided. "I'm the last person anyone thinks of when the concept of 'huggability' comes to mind.

But then you started to, and you stopped. As though you thought you wouldn't be wanted. And I didn't want you to think that.

I think now that, even back then, it wasn't true.

You were wanted."

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-27 06:30 am UTC (link)
Slowly, gently, Al let go of the copper cauldron in his arms. He set it on the surface of the table, as a centerpiece, in equal distance from at least three sides. The cauldron's handles were even with the table corners. He settled down once more then, and slipped his oiled hands around Severus. He brought himself closer until they were sitting thigh-to-thigh and rested his cheek against Severus' shoulder. The black cloth was warm against his cheek. He rubbed his jaw against it and wrinkled his nose fondly.

"I wanted you back," he voiced softly in reply. "You were the first one I ever wanted in such manner. It was... fascinating to want a person. A real, actual person, not a... concept or an object or a historical figure. Well, you were historical," Al stumbled. "But, you know, also, real, and right there."

Al's arms wrapped around Severus and even his ever-present quill and parchment settled against the curve of his shoulder, as if also leaning into the hug.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-27 07:12 am UTC (link)
Al had seasoned the cauldron so beautifully that the copper seemed to glow in the gloom of the lab, brighter than a shiny new penny. But right then, it could have been radiating like an Incendio, and Severus would still have paid it no mind.

He was too absorbed in the perfect naturalness of Al's arms slipping around him; the warm, compact body beside him, the silky brush of hair ends against his jaw and throat, the familiar way Al rubbed his face against him, like an affectionate cat.

They leaned into each other on the bench, like books sharing the same shelf, propping each other up. Severus slid his own arms around Al's waist, mirroring his gesture.

"I'm so glad I was 'right there' then. A year ago. I'm so glad I'm right here," he tightened his embrace briefly, "with you now."

"I hope I'll be here for many more years. ...Even if I'm 'historical'," Severus chuckled, feeling the answering tickle as the movement shifted Al's hair against his skin. "I suppose that means you've got the chance to make history," he added with a teasing smirk.

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-27 07:38 am UTC (link)
"Many more decades," Al echoed a correction. "I am certainly planning on it."

Al reached out to press his lips against the vibration of Severus' throat, even as the twitching of the blue quill patiently recording Severus' words tickled his ear with its letter-by-letter dance. At first it was purely curiosity - whether he could detect sound by tasting random bits of skin - but then it was determination of a different kind.

... make history... it was even transcribed in suggestive manner, not to mention the smirk that appeared on Severus' lips. Al didn't know what the double-meaning was, but when in doubt he assumed nowadays that the majority of unknown suggestive lines dealt with sex.

It seemed like a safe assumption. Statistics were on his side.

"M'trying to make history now," he pointed out with a warm chuckle against Severus' jaw. It fogged up his glasses and shook the blue quill into another flurry of movement. "Let's make some more!"

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-27 07:44 am UTC (link)
Severus laughed, one hand sneaking down to swat lightly at Al's arse. "Brat!" The hand lingered, first rubbing apologetic circles before settling down to a steady, appreciative kneading.

"Yes, let's. I've always wanted to go down in History."

And without further ado - because there were some things that really shouldn't be done in the same lab as a cauldron full of experimental potion, stasis charms or no - Severus tightened his arms and his magic around Al, and Apparated them both directly onto their bed: just a few inches above, so they'd make a satisfying bounce when they landed.

Hopefully, it'd set the tone for the rest of the evening.

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-28 02:40 am UTC (link)
They Apparated and bounced and rolled as if those motions too were just a extension of a wild Apparation ride across the castle corridors, walls, and doors.

Held throughout it, Al felt the laughter in him bubbling up, he rolled and climbed until he was sitting firmly on top, his knees against Severus' elbows, his weight pinning Severus down, and only then lifted his arms in a silent salute.

Eureka! I've captured Severus.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-28 05:28 am UTC (link)
Severus let his head fall back on the rumpled duvet, and laughed: full-throated, with an unselfconsciousness he could never allow himself to display to anyone else apart from Al.

He wriggled slightly, just to enjoy the feeling of being pinned by Al's weight. He sent sly fingers snaking up the sinews of Al's spread thighs, teasing and testing his resolve to keep Severus immobile.

All the while, the dark eyes glittering up at Al's asked a mute question: Now you've got me, what do you want to do with me?

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-29 12:54 am UTC (link)
Al stared down at the face distorted by laughter, at the dark hair strands arranged haphazardly on the pillow, felt the shift of movement between his thighs.

Riding a broom never felt like this. Severus was far better than any broom, anyhow. They balanced together so easily.

The warmth of the dark eyes, focused on him, the clever, patient fingers stroking his skin, the heat and the smell of Severus - of home - this is how Al survived the last year: because of this, with this, due to this. Because of Severus. Through the war and the siege, the shock and the worry, through the disappointments and the losses, small and large, when deprived of routines and familiarity, unable to make sense of the world around him or the people's actions, through the hopeless disorder and dread of Dementor fog and the statistical impossibility of ever feeling joy again... This was the reason why Al did, despite the odds felt the excitement in his chest rising. Why Al's sanity and his entire being remained whole: damaged, but healing.

... that one remaining burst of order in his life, that one stable point of reliability...

Severus.

I don't know yet. Al leaned forward. He pressed into Severus' touch, slid his hands up the sharp curve of Severus' shoulders, addressing the issue of buttons and clothes in an appropriately unrushed and measured manner: from the top down, with the attention it deserved. Everything. Anything you want.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-29 04:36 am UTC (link)
Al had been through so much. Severus had expected all of it, any of it - the stress of the war and his injuries, the resulting isolation from friends and family - to drive Al to blame him, or to drive him away altogether. But instead of turning from him, Al held to him all the more: warm and close, hands and gaze caressing him, more eloquent than many words.

It was more than Severus had expected of life; more than he'd ever dared hope.

So instead he basked in the gift of the present moment, kneading hands slipping up to Al's belt, peeling away the layers of his clothes with silent reverence in every move.

I already have all I could ever want: you.

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-29 05:16 am UTC (link)
Al's clothes were all color-coordinated, although it wasn't much of an achievement by itself. In fact, various shades of dull-grey were extremely easy to color-coordinate.

They blended well with the dim space between library shelves, into the greying brick walls of the corridors.

It was as if everything Al wore, an attire more part of himself than a bird's feathers would have been, had gone grey before its time... Robes, shirt, trousers, socks... only the grey fabric of his boxers still held the yellowy eyes of owls, charmed to blink every now and then. One frivolity well-hidden from the rest of the world.

The fabric rustled with soft woots as it was shifted past Al's hips, thighs, knees, and disposed of, into the pile which already contained Severus' black long-sleeved robe.

Assisted by Severus' touch, Al wiggled out of the remaining pieces of clothing, like a bird shedding old season's feathers, and settled, warm and naked into the eternal puzzle of figuring out the optimal angles of their limbs.

The night lights above their bed highlighted his hair with soft green, brought out the colour of his eyes and turned his skin sallow, to match Severus', as he leaned in for kiss.

In the brief moment before their lips met, Al's eyes glistened in the dark. Wide-open, ever-clear.

I've learned that family can be chosen. And you are mine.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-11-29 05:36 am UTC (link)
Al's recent taste in attire, all soft shades of grey, was like a muted version of Severus' own habitual black. As if he was observing his own private mourning.

And yet, hidden away under all those subdued hues, was those cheerfully absurd owl boxers. Severus grinned, remembering when he'd seen them first, interleaved in the pages of one of his books.

But he smiled just as much when the boxers were gone - though of course it was for an entirely different reason.

Al's eyes were so vivid in the curtained midnight of their bed, shining like will-o-the-wisps. Willingly, Severus let them lead him astray, draw him down into slow, tender kisses, soft caresses of hands and lips and tongue, joining together to say, in a language older and clearer than words, And you are mine.

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[info]bp_albusseverus
2010-11-29 05:58 am UTC (link)
During his recent pensieve dives into his own nightmares, the drawn back analysis of the horrid battleground of his past laid out for Al's mind to examine, no more threatening than a chess board, Al slipped into the same routine of drawing back from the world without feeling the brunt of the present moment, going through the motions and letting his mind read the surroundings as if he'd read a book about himself, not lived it.

It was so silent, so peaceful, to do so. The world couldn't hurt him this way. And yet...

He couldn't take full pleasure in it either. Not until now, until Severus divested him, piece by piece of his clothes, like mourning wraps, not until Severus' touch woke him and pushed him, gasping into reality, with the warmth and the pressure and the incredibly real and raw slide of skin-on-skin.

Al breathed Severus' breath, his heartbeat picked up as his entire self awoke with a kiss, and his body lived in here and now and wanted this, needed it. An urge and a craving to belong, to exist, to feel and to be home at last.

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[info]bp_snape
2010-12-01 02:34 am UTC (link)
Severus felt like Pygmalion, waking a living lover from marble stasis.

Seeing the flush wake in Al's skin, bright enough to overcome even the greenish glow of the bed's reading lamps. Feeling its warmth, the beat of Al's life, pulsing strong and fast in the skin under his lips, the hardness filling his mouth.

It felt like a celebration of the Return of the Sun, a month too soon. But then, what did Severus care about such trivia of timing? The mere fact that Severus was here and alive himself, was only due to an accident that had broken his ties with his own time.

So he concentrated only on the here and now: taking a sharp, fierce joy in every gasp, every cry given voice by his shy, quiet lover.

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