Severus smiled at the familiar sobriquet. Harry had quickly stumbled upon 'Sev' as an appropriate nickname for Severus (he was not alone in this).

Severus even allowed Harry to call him 'Sevvy.' Harry used it rarely, preferring 'Sev.' Severus was frustrated, however. He wanted to give Harry some nickname. Something special. Something only between the two of them.

Harry had vetoed 'Har' immediately.

"Definitely not Har?" Severus asked.

Harry glared at him. "No, or I'll call you Sewwy-poo during dinner very loudly tonight."

Severus shuddered. Okay, not 'Har.'

"Sev, why does this bother you so much?" Harry asked. "You're Sev, or Sevvy, or Severus, I'm Harry. Why do you want to call me something else?"

Severus' face softened. "I want a name that only I ever call you. I want a sobriquet for you, too. Some sickeningly sweet term of endearment. Something that would make me cringe if anyone else heard me use it. Something that would destroy my reputation as an unfeeling bastard forever. I want to have something like that between us."

"Aw, that's so sweet," Harry sighed happily.

"I know. Tell anyone, and I shall be forced to kill you," Severus deadpanned.

"Ah, excellent. I shall immediately inform everyone I know. To do so, though, we're going to have to come up with some name like that. Any ideas?"

"Well, most of them are already used by other loving couples. I could call you love, or dear, or honey, or sweetie…"

"No, you couldn't," Harry contradicted. "Love, yes, you've used it before, dear… once in a while, I've heard you use that, but I think it'll be a cold day in hell before you ever call me honey or sweetie."

"True," Severus laughed. "Your first name is singularly useless in crafting nicknames. There's nothing besides 'Har,' which you won't let me call you."

"Right."

"I am not calling you by your middle name," Severus continued.

Harry shook his head. "My father doesn't really belong in our relationship."

"And thank Merlin for it," Severus said emphatically. "Potter… I'm not calling you by some derivation of your last name. We got beyond that."

"Took bloody long enough, let's not back-pedal."

"Sweetheart, sweetums, sweetie-pie, and honey-pie are all similarly out as common and as things I wouldn't say. Brat isn't exactly an endearment or original. Little snakeling isn't, either, especially since you're not little and not even Slytherin."

"But I am a Parselmouth."

"I dislike little snakeling anyway. Albus refers to my Slytherins as snakelings. Ylech. Right. Imp is similarly uninventive."

"Perhaps we're going to have to use something old."

"It's not special that way."

"Sev isn't exactly earth-shatteringly new, either," Harry pointed out. "But it's still between you and me."

Severus looked at him and smiled softly. "Gremlin?" he suggested.

"Hm?"

"What about gremlins?"

"As a nickname."

"Those are demons."

"Exactly. But it's different. And you and I will know that it's an endearment."

"Gremlins? They're evil."

"So?"

Harry smiled and kissed Severus. "Mm. I like my new sobriquet."

Sobriquet – noun. A nickname; an assumed name; an epithet. Word of the Day, June 22, 2006)