Harry listened to the off-key busker with a small smile. Severus noticed and rolled his eyes. "Give him some money if you like his singing so much."
"It's not that. His… song. Or rather, his tone. It reminds me of you."
"I hope you don't mean to say that my singing is as off-key as his," Severus said archly.
"No," Harry answered immediately. "Just… I don't know. So many of them just sing so that someone takes pity and drops money into their cup or case or whatever. But listen to him. He's singing from his heart. Like you do."
Severus smiled slightly. "C'mon. There are many more sights here. Let's go on."
"'Kay," Harry answered. "Where are we going now?"
"Well, I was thinking about going up to the castle. It's gorgeous."
"Which way?"
"Up those stairs. We'll take bus 10 up to the castle."
Harry and Severus sat down next to each other on the bus. Harry rested his head on Severus' shoulder and looked out the window as they bounced along the cobbled road. Severus wrapped his arm around Harry's body and held him close.
"That there is the Szentharomsag Szobor, or the Three Saints Statue," Severus murmured in Harry's ear. "Next to it is the Matthias Temple. If you look forward, you can just start to see the castle's cupola."
"The blue thing?"
"Yep," Severus answered.
"You sound like a tour guide, Sev," Harry laughed. "I'm happy we decided to travel this summer."
"Me too, gremlin," Severus answered. "Time to get off."
They started walking towards the castle. "Over here are some ruins. They're still doing a lot of archeological work here. This castle's been built and demolished and rebuilt a lot of times, with a lot of different groups influencing the building style. This city's been taken over many times. Over there's the National Library. And here is a statue of King Matthias."
"Who is he?" Harry asked curiously.
"He's a legendary Hungarian figure. I don't mean to say that he wasn't real, but there are many stories and such about him. We'll go to Visegrad this week, and I'll show you his castle."
After going through the museum inside the castle, Severus smiled and turned to Harry. "I think it's time we went to dinner. Unless you want to take a peek in one of these stores."
"Yeah."
Harry snickered as he looked around. "I want a key ring."
"Fine, gremlin."
They paid for the key ring and continued on to the metro station.
"It's that singer again," Harry smiled. They wrapped an arm around each other's waists.
As they passed the wanna-be singer, Severus dropped some money into his cup. "Thank you," he whispered as he passed.
The singer stared at Severus, puzzled. He gaped and forgot his song. Severus looked over his shoulder and winked. The singer smiled slightly and continued singing.
"Why'd you do that?" Harry asked.
"He made you happy," Severus answered. They looked back at the busker and smiled.
Busker – adj. A person who entertains (as by playing music) in public places. Word of the Day, March 5, 2008)