unbroken_halo (unbroken_halo) wrote in pornicators, @ 2006-12-20 17:07:00 |
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Current mood: | refreshed |
Not So Impossible
Original poster: alisanne
Title: Not So Impossible
Author: alisanne
Rating:PG
Word Count: 3125
Summary: Harry is looking for Severus, but why?
Warnings: Drunk!Severus, scheming Tweasleys. :)
Notes: Written for liliputian722 who gave me a lovely stack of pressies. *g* Also written for my 100quills Severus table, prompt: Impossible.
Beta: sevfan
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
~
Not So Impossible
~
Severus grabbed a glass of champagne as the tray floated by, and tried to recall why he’d even agreed to attend this awful event in the first place. A Christmas party? What, in Hades’ name, had he been thinking?
All around him, the sounds of forced merriment buzzed, the attendees evidently trying to forget the shambles that the long war had left the wizarding world in.
The Ministry wanted to pretend that things were fine, but they were not, still, Severus was a master of denial, so who was he to criticize? His goal tonight was to get pleasantly intoxicated and then leave without having to speak with anyone. Especially not Potter, with his perfect life and his new appointment to the position of Defense professor. How was he to see him every day at Hogwarts and not lose his mind?
He’d not seen Harry in several months, but he’d read about him in the Prophet on an almost daily basis, following with interest his crusading on behalf of the rehabilitation of werewolves and ex-Death Eaters to allow them back into society.
Harry Potter was an adult now, and Severus had to resist the thoughts that realization gave him. It had been bad enough to have impossible and lascivious thoughts about a student, but Harry definitely was no longer a student, and that made Severus very nervous.
A gentle hand touched his shoulder and he whirled, ready to attack whoever it was. Minerva stood there looking up at him.
“My goodness, Severus. You’re a bit jumpy. Are you enjoying yourself?”
Slipping his wand back into his sleeve, he quirked an eyebrow at her and took a deep sip of his drink. “Apologies, Minerva. And, as for enjoying myself... Please.”
She smiled. “Well, that was a silly question, I suppose. Still, it is nice to get away from the daily grind, is it not?”
He shrugged and looked about the gaily decorated room. “I suppose so,” he grunted.
“Did Harry find you?” she asked, sipping her own champagne.
Severus stared at her. “Potter? No, I have not seen him, fortunately.”
Minerva rolled her eyes. “Severus, you must get over your animosity towards him. You saved each other several times during the war. You are now colleagues. Isn’t it time to call a truce?”
Severus took another deep sip in an attempt to avoid answering. He harboured no animosity towards Potter. If only you knew, he thought.
Minerva sighed. “Well, he’s looking for you, and if I see him I’ll send him this way.” Nodding, she walked away purposefully to speak with the Minister.
Severus relaxed a bit when she left. He would have one more glass of the surprisingly good champagne and then leave. He could say that he’d never gotten the message that Potter was looking for him. And why would Potter be looking for him, anyway?
He sipped his next glass of champagne slowly as he considered the possibilities.
It might be something completely innocuous, Severus thought. However, the look in Minerva’s eyes had made him somewhat nervous. Potter was up to something, but what?
Perhaps he wants revenge for the way I treated him as a student?
Although... that made no sense either. There had been many times over the past few years where Potter could have gotten revenge on him, but he never had. He had even championed Severus’ returning to Hogwarts as Potions professor, testifying for his defense at the Wizengamot.
Severus consumed two more glasses of wine as he considered other possibilities.
Perhaps he’s aware of your feelings for him, a small voice in his head jeered. No, that was impossible. Severus had buried them too deep. And, in that case, Potter wouldn’t have just mentioned something politely to Minerva, he would have killed Severus.
Or maybe, he wishes your help with a school project.
Unlikely, Severus decided. I’m sure he’s given very little thought to the curriculum.
Severus realized he’d run out of champagne again, and began looking around for more. His hand-eye coordination was slightly off as he grabbed for a flute from a passing tray however, and he missed.
A hand reached around and offered him a full glass, and as he took it, he looked up into a pair of grinning faces. When had the Weasley twins gotten so tall?
“Snape,” George, or was it Fred, said. “Looked like you could use a refill.”
Severus peered suspiciously at the glass, then back up at the redhead. There was something about accepting food or drink from these two that he should remember, but he wasn’t sure what at the moment. He took a sip.
“Not bad,” he said, peering at the glass again. It tasted different, but good. He shrugged and drained it.
“Well, I mush be on my way,” he said with as much dignity he could.
“Have another before you go,” the one he thought was Fred said. “Oh, and Harry is looking for you.”
Severus accepted another glass but frowned at the mention of Potter.
“Why ish he looking for me?” he asked. “What’s he want?”
George shrugged. “Beats us. He just asked us to tell you that.”
As the two miscreants left, Severus sighed and tossed back his drink.
Placing the flute carefully on a table, Severus started for the door. There was some reason he had to leave...
“Severus.”
The quiet voice stopped him cold, and he looked over into warm green eyes.
“Har... Potter. Minerva said you wanted me?”
Harry smiled faintly. “Yes. Indeed I do. May we speak privately?”
Severus hesitated, then nodded. Might as well get it over with, that inner voice said.
He followed Harry, who led the way, somehow managing not to stumble, and they ended up in a deserted hallway, the sounds of the party a distant buzz.
Severus leaned against the wall in attempt to not sway. The room seemed to be moving in an alarming way.
“Are you all right?” Harry asked, and Severus tried to nod, but instead shook his head, almost groaning as the room moved in the opposite way to his eyes.
Harry stepped closer. “Severus, I just wanted you to know that I am looking forward to working with you at Hogwarts, and that I hope we are able to build a new relationship. One that’s less... confrontational, perhaps?”
Severus heard the words, but all he was thinking at that moment was, his lips look so soft.
The lips kept moving, so Severus continued nodding as he stared at them. He wondered if he could get them to move closer...
“Severus, I think you’re drunk.”
Severus blinked. He opened his mouth to deny it, but what came out was, “Of coursh I am.”
Harry smiled and shook his head. “As I suspected. I can’t allow you to Apparate in this state. Let me just sober you up...”
Severus shook his head vigorously. “No, wanted to get tipshy,” he mumbled. “Easier to sleep.”
Harry stepped close enough that Severus could feel the heat emanating from him. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”
Severus shrugged. “Sometimesh.”
“How about I take you home?” Harry suggested. “Tuck you in. Maybe give you a Sleeping Potion...”
Severus shook his head. There was some reason that that was a dangerous suggestion, but he couldn’t think of why. “No. You can’t shee me in my pyjamash.”
Harry smiled a bit wistfully. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you out of them,” murmured under his breath, but Severus heard him.
“Nooo. Can’t shee m’ naked, either. You’ll laugh.”
Harry sighed. “The last thing I would do if I saw you naked is laugh,” he said, putting an arm around Severus to steady him. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked softly, persuasively.
“Dunno,” Severus said honestly.
Harry smiled. “Well, at least it’s not an outright no,” he said under his breath. “That’s something. Come on, let’s get you home.”
It was all Severus could do not to throw up as Harry Apparated him home.
~
There were banshees shrieking directly in his ear when he woke up. Severus shot bolt upright, staring about and clutching his head as it spun alarmingly. A potions vial was thrust into his hand, and he sniffed, recognizing Pepperup.
He downed it, and the noise lessened slightly. Looking up, a blurred figure resolved into a blushing Granger standing at the foot of the bed.
“I’m so sorry, Pro... Snape. I didn’t expect to see you here...” she said, her whining voice still making a million sharp needles stab his brain despite the potion.
“Miss Granger, why are you in my bedchamber, and why are you screaming?”
“Sir, it’s not...”
“Severus. Good, you’re up. Did you take the Pepperup I left you...? Oh! Hermione!” Harry, appearing from a door, was loquacious this morning Severus noted, although he seemed as shocked to see Granger as Severus had been. And he’d just come from a bathroom, presumably, since he had wet hair and was carrying a towel in one hand.
And where in Merlin’s name am I?
The decor was much too... red... he realized, now that some cognitive power was returning to his brain.
“This is not my home,” he said flatly.
“Oh, well spotted, sir!”
Both Severus and Harry turned to look at Hermione, and she blanched.
“Why are you here, Hermione?” Harry asked.
She smiled apologetically. “You disappeared rather abruptly from the party last night, so I thought I’d...”
“You thought you’d snoop,” Harry said, crossing his arms.
She looked shamefaced as she backed out, stammering. “Well, erm, you both look fine, so I suppose I’ll just leave, erm, then.” Turning tail, she fled. Severus closed his eyes as he heard her Disapparate.
“She’s right about one thing,” Harry said softly.
Severus looked up at him.
“You do look rather fine this morning.”
Severus’ mouth fell open. Had Harry actually just paid him a compliment?
As if he’d only just realized that he was naked, Harry glanced down at his chest and flushed. Severus’ eyes followed the redness as it spread below where the towel hung so precariously on slim hips, before realizing he was shamelessly ogling his host, snapping his gaze back up to Harry’s amused one.
“What is the meaning of this?” he snapped. “Why am I here?”
Harry smiled apologetically. “I tried to take you home, but your wards rejected us, so I just brought us here. You were in no shape to get us through your wards, I’m afraid. And then...” Harry blushed.
“And then?” Severus was dreading the answer.
“Then you got a bit... erm... cuddly and demanded that we ‘share body heat’. I tried to disengage long enough to be able to cast a Warming Charm, but you wouldn’t let me go, so...” Harry shrugged.
“We slept in this bed together?” Severus whispered.
Harry nodded, beet red. “Nothing happened, though!” he was quick to add. “I would never have taken advantage of you in that state.”
“Are you saying that you would have considered intimate relations with me had I been sober?” Severus fought to keep his mouth from dropping open.
Harry stepped closer, and reaching down, pushed back a bit of hair that had fallen in front of Severus’ eyes.
“It was all I could do to not ravish you last night, actually,” Harry admitted huskily.
“I...” Severus closed his eyes as he began to remember bits and pieces of the evening. To his horror. “Well... I believe I should be on my way...”
He began to remove the sheet, but stopped when he realized he was naked. “Where are my clothes?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.
Harry sighed. “They’re a bit worse for wear. I tried to Scourgify them, but I think they’ll need something more, the, erm, sick smell clung to them a bit, so I gave them to Dobby...”
“I got sick?” Severus closed his eyes. This simply could not be happening. His worst mornings after Death Eater revels didn’t approach how he was feeling at this moment.
“It was probably all that you had to drink,” Harry said sympathetically. “You were rather... pissed.”
“Pi... I might have been a bit inebriated, but I certainly wasn’t pissed!”
Harry shrugged. “All I know is what I saw,” he said. “And you were quite talkative. Wasn’t there any alcohol at those Death Eater revels? I can’t believe you survived this long if a few glasses of champagne is enough to make you... What?”
Harry stepped back at the thunderous look on Severus’ face.
“Why you... You conspired with those bloody scheming menaces!” he raged. “And they slipped something in my drink! This is all some kind of joke!”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “I what? Who slipped you something?” he asked. “This is no joke, Severus.”
Severus scowled. “As if you don’t know?” he snapped. “Those twin disasters, of course. And I could even taste that something was off...”
“Severus, I swear I didn’t...”
“Enough of your lies! Bring me my clothes. The humiliation ends here and now.”
Harry closed his eyes as if in pain. “It was never my intent to humiliate you, Severus,” he said quietly.
“Save it, Potter,” Severus spat, all but seething. “I know enough not to trust Gryffindors.”
Harry’s face crumpled. “Dobby!”
The diminutive elf popped into the room.
“Retrieve Professor Snape’s clothing at once, Dobby,” Harry instructed quietly. “We need to leave immediately.”
~
It was clear that Harry and Severus were on a mission when they walked into Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes thirty minutes later.
“You did not have to come with me,” Severus said.
Harry, his face set, said, “Yes, I did. I want you to know that I had nothing to do with whatever scheme Fred and George came up with this time.”
Fred looked up and immediately called for his brother upon seeing Harry’s face. “George! We’ve company!”
George’s face came from behind a column and he took in the situation at a glance. “Let’s go to the back room, then, shall we?” he said.
Severus, stone-faced, brushed by followed by Harry, who hadn’t yet cracked a smile.
In the back room, Severus rounded on George immediately.
“What did you try to poison me with last night?” he hissed.
George looked alarmed. “Oi! It wasn’t poison, just a new concoction of our own making. It just... unlocks the tongue a bit.”
“Makes it so that the person says what they’re thinking a bit more easily,” Fred joined in.
“You gave me Truth Serum?” Severus asked, hands twitching as if about to go for his wand.
“No, it’s not Truth Serum, it doesn’t force you to speak the truth, it just... makes it easier to say what you’re thinking. Loosens up the tongue.”
“Why did you give me this substance?” Severus asked.
Fred shrugged, looking between Harry and Severus with interest. “We knew Harry was looking for you, and we knew what he wanted to ask you, so...”
“So we thought we’d help him out as he’s our mate,” finished George.
“That means this is your fault,” Severus said, turning back to Harry who was pale.
“I didn’t know...”
Severus held up a hand. “I do not care,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for you, I would not have been subjected to this humiliation.”
With an angry swish of his robes, Severus swept past him. “I’ll see myself out.”
Once he got outside however, his curiosity got the better of him. This had been a bit too elaborate of a scheme for Potter to concoct just for his humiliation... With a whispered Concealment Spell, Severus reentered the shop, carefully walked towards the back room and peered in through the still cracked open door.
They were still there, Harry, sitting on a chair, his head in his hands, shoulders slumped in defeat, while Fred and George stood in front of him looking discomfited.
“Harry, we thought we were helping, please believe us...” Fred was saying.
Harry shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said dully. “He’ll never believe me now. And after I tried to give him space so that he’d see me as an adult and not as a child... Bugger.”
“We can allow him to use Legilimency on us so he can see you’d nothing to do with it,” Fred offered.
“Or send him a Pensieve,” George chimed in.
Harry shook his head. “I just can’t help but wonder if the potion didn’t change his personality a bit,” he said so softly that Severus had to strain to hear him. “He was so... affectionate last night. He even said things that made me think he’d been interested in me for a long time....” Harry stopped and sat up straight.
“Well, I might never know. He’s made his decision, and it seems he’d rather be without me than take a chance and be happy.”
Severus had heard enough. The potion hadn’t changed him, it had allowed him to tell Harry how he really felt. Whispering the counter-Concealment Spell, he stepped into the room.
“And here I thought Gryffindors were courageous,” he said.
Fred started. “Snape! I... we... erm...”
“I heard it all,” Severus said. “And I have just one question. Have you tried to make your potion tasteless? What I tasted was the Mandrake root, I believe, so perhaps some peppermint would counteract that...”
George grinned slowly. “Why, sir, that might work! C’mon, Fred.” He grabbed his brother and pulled him out of the room. “We might come back for another consultation on the potion, Snape, all right?”
Severus smirked. “You may, if you think you can afford my consultation fees,” he said to the closing door.
Harry was simply staring at him.
Severus felt a frisson of fear. “Have I completely alienated you with my unfounded accusations?” he asked.
Harry shook his head and stood up. “No. But I should tell you, I wasn’t giving up. I was just contemplating my next step.”
Severus sighed. “I never did ask you... why were you looking for me last night?”
Harry inclined his head. “I think that’s obvious now,” he said.
“Humour me,” Severus said.
“I wanted to ask you out,” Harry said, blushing. “Actually, I was going to see if you’d join me for dinner in my quarters my first evening back at Hogwarts.”
Severus shook his head. “Foolish brat,” he murmured. “What on earth are you thinking going after an unattractive ex-Death Eater who is two decades your senior?”
Harry smiled and shrugged. “I think we can make each other happy,” he said. “And you’re not unattractive.”
Severus snorted. “I might have to feed you some of that infernal concoction to get the truth out of you.”
Harry looked up at him from beneath his lashes. “Okay, but the answer won’t ever change,” he said.
And he was right, it never did.
~Fin