webmistresses (webmistresses) wrote in severus_sighs, @ 2010-02-13 20:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | event: anti-valentine's day 2010, ficlet, member: torina_archelda, pairing: severus/harry, rating: g |
Room for Two by Torina Archelda
Title: Room For Two
Author: torina_archelda
Pairing: Severus/Harry
Rating: G
Word Count: 1.3k
Warnings: none
Summary: Written for the Severus Sighs 2010 Anti-Valentine’s Day Mini-Fest. Prompt 5: Roses, bows and love letters, and other such delusions.
A/N: Thanks to atypicalsnowman for the beta and a nudge in the right direction with the word “kismet,” which sparked this bunny. This is malachite.
“I can’t believe you’re finally getting away from here,” Harry remarked with a wan smile, taking another look around the room before reaching for another book to pack away. “So many years in the same place…”
“Makes one quite anxious to get away, I assure you,” Severus replied dryly.
Harry laughed. “No, no, I’m glad you’re getting a fresh start. Getting to do something you truly love.” He leaned back against the bookshelf and crossed his arms in thought, eyeing Severus from across the room he had spent so many countless hours in. He was going to miss this place.
“Thank you for letting me hide out down here,” Harry said, turning his back to Severus and continuing to stack the books in their box. “I swear, if I have to suffer through another fourteen-year-old girl shoving Valentine chocolates or roses in my face and declaring her undying love for me…”
Severus snorted. “Difficult to be so popular, hm, Mr. Potter?”
“Oh, shut up. You wouldn’t find it half so amusing if they were fawning over you,” Harry replied, turning back to shoot a glare at Severus—but there was no real anger in his gaze.
Severus raised an eyebrow. “I expend a good deal of effort in ensuring that the little hellions have no reason whatsoever to desire my attentions, in any form. Should you desire the same treatment toward yourself, you need only project a persona that gives them nothing to moon over—in quite excruciating detail, I might add.” Severus gave a mock-shudder. “Three Hufflepuff fourth years have detention with Fillius next week for their inability to keep their private feelings private while in my classroom.”
Harry briefly entertained the thought of asking what they had said, just to see if it would make Severus uncomfortable, then decided he probably didn’t want to know. “Not your classroom anymore,” he said, closing up the box of books and moving over to Severus’ nightstand. “It’s Malfoy’s, now.”
“And thank Merlin for that,” Severus agreed, grabbing another box from the bed and handing it to Harry. “Why must you persist in calling him that? Is it so difficult to use his first name?”
Harry gave Severus an incredulous look. “Oh, come on. You only use my first name half of the time, and we’ve spent years practically living in each other’s pockets.”
Severus frowned. “That’s different,” he insisted, moving to clean out his armoire. “I don’t mean anything by it, and you know that well enough. But you say Draco’s name as if you’ve smelled something distasteful.”
“We did spend seven years at each other’s throats, Severus.” When that didn’t wipe the dissatisfied look off of Severus’ face, Harry sighed. “Look, I’m civil enough to him, aren’t I? And it’s not like we’re flinging curses at each other behind your back. There’s just a lot of history there, Severus. I doubt we’ll ever be friends.”
Severus sighed softly. “I wish you could be.”
Harry bit his lip in thought. “Is he really that important to you, Severus?”
Severus’ gaze clouded, and it was several long moments before he replied. “Not him, no.” Another pause, and Harry had no idea what to say to that, so he just waited. “London is a fair distance from Hogwarts.”
Harry blinked at the apparent non-sequitur. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
Severus looked him straight in the eye. “I doubt if we’ll be able to see each other very often.”
Ah. Harry thought he understood where this was all going, now. “Yes,” he replied, smiling sadly. “I’ll miss you.”
Severus looked away and Harry turned back to the nightstand, giving Severus a moment to collect himself. He opened the bottom drawer and began placing trinkets in the box, carefully not looking at Severus. A ring that looked like it might have been Severus’ mother’s, a folded envelope claiming to contain Severus’ NEWT scores. A faded ticket stub, an article torn out of a magazine, and… Something, glinting in the back of the drawer, just far enough away that Harry couldn’t quite make it out. He settled back on his knees and slid his hand into the drawer, reaching back and feeling around for it. Hs fingers touched the back right corner and he swept his arm left, searching…
“I just don’t want you to be by yourself all the time, when I’m gone,” Severus said at last, but Harry’s fingers touched something cool and glassy before he could reply, and he drew in a sharp breath as Severus’ room melted away around him and a new world began to appear. It was fuzzy around the edges and slightly out of focus, and Harry felt as if he’d stepped into a pensieve.
“Ooh, look, Mum! What’re these?” A child who looked very much like a younger Severus Snape was suddenly in front of Harry, jumping up and down and staring wide-eyed at a roadside stand covered with various forms of jewelry. Harry took a step closer and saw the piece that had caught the boy’s eye—two smoothly polished malachite bands, runes Harry had never seen before inscribed on the inside.
“Severus, really, we need to get home now.” And now there was a woman standing behind the boy—Severus—his Severus? She looked world-weary and exhausted, and Harry’s heart instantly went out to her. “Your father—”
“These, my dear,” the old woman behind the counter interrupted, smiling at Severus, “are fate.”
“Fate?” Severus breathed, reaching out to touch one. The old woman caught him by the wrist before he made contact, and Severus looked up, clearly confused.
“Fate,” she repeated, releasing Severus’ wrist. “Whoever touches these rings becomes attuned to their powers. Their runes will delve deep into your heart and soul, and become intimately aware of who you are. And when they feel the touch of your soul mate… You will know.” She looked up, then, and though Harry had discerned by now that no one could see him here...he could have sworn she was looking directly at him.
“Please, mummy?” Severus said excitedly, turning to the other woman and tugging on her sleeve. “They’re so pretty—”
Severus’ mother looked down at him with sad eyes. “Severus, you know we can’t afford—”
“No,” the old woman said abruptly, looking them over critically. “You can’t, can you? And this one…” She stared at Severus for a moment, and Harry followed her gaze—looking into the eyes of the child and thinking of the man he would become. “I cannot spare him what is to come,” she said finally, and Harry closed his eyes tightly. Merlin, how he wished she could have. “But this…this I can do.” She nodded at Severus. “They are yours.”
Severus’ eyes lit up and he reached out for the rings, joy transforming his features. The moment his fingers touched the stone Harry felt something like an electric shock running through him, and the world went momentarily black. When his vision cleared he was on his knees in Severus’ room again, the rings clutched tightly in his palm, and his Severus was staring at him in complete amazement.
“I—” Severus’ voice broke, and he tried again. “I never thought they would actually…” He trailed off, unable to finish, and Harry looked down at the rings he still held in his hand—the words “soul mates” ringing in his ears.
“I suppose Albus will need to hire a new Defense professor as well,” he said mildly, looking back up at Severus to gauge his reaction. It was equal parts joy and wonder, and Harry smiled. “Is there room for two in that London flat of yours?”
Severus swallowed thickly and held out his hand, helping Harry up. “For you?” he breathed, pulling him close. “Always.”
Harry smiled.