The Snake and the Lion
LilahMontgomery
A/N
Thank you to Lady_Malfoy who Alpa read this for me :)
There are scenes of a sexual nature. For the unedited version, please visit my Ao3 version.
Reviews make my day so make me smile, dear readers ;) x
James stands before the Slytherin, uncertain of what to say. The sixteen year old nervously twists his house tie and blinks.
The Forbidden Forest is just behind Severus, the eery tendrils of fog which leak from between the trees, entwining with his cigarette smoke.
James looks away, his heart beating out of control.
"This isn't when we usually meet, James. I don't appreciate being pulled away from my evil schemes and dark wizardry just to stand here looking at you."
James chuckles at that. Part of him knows Severus is only half joking. The Gryffindor turns his boots and stands facing the other man, his hands in his pockets and his stance more relaxed.
"I've been thinking." He states.
"That must have been a real struggle for you-"
"And I've decided that I don't want to keep this secret anymore."
The Slytherin stops breathing and stares at James with an intensity which makes him shrink. He draws on his cigarette before offering it to the Gryffindor with a jerk of his head.
James takes it and breaths deep, waiting for the other boy's reply.
Severus takes a moment before answering.
"You wish to out yourself as gay? In the wizarding world?" Severus asks.
James nods cautiously.
"And you are telling me your plan is to out me as well?"
James takes a moment to smoke before nodding with more certainty. He gasps as he is magically blasted into a tree. He stumbles forwards and glares at Severus. The Slytherin looks more amused than angry but James knows to be careful.
"You're plan is to reveal our sexuality to a group who are so stuck in the dark ages that they use candles to light their rooms, as well as announcing how we have been lying to everyone and conducting a secret relationship under their noses for years? Is that roughly what you're saying?"
James rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably. Severus has a way of making things sound less than appealing. He picks the cigarette up from the floor and fixes a defiant look on his face.
"Roughly." He agrees.
Severus laughs harshly and steps towards James with his dark eyes darting.
"Go on then," he goads, "do me a favour and tell Black first though? I'd love to see his face when he learns you've made such a fool of him."
James feels a nasty weight in his chest. Sirius would be unlikely to forgive the deception quickly and he did does not wish to be reminded of it.
James maintains eye contact. Severus presses forward again.
"I'd love to see how many of your fan club turn out to your next quidditch match too. The Golden Boy, Saint Potter himself, a filthy liar. Well, it's not like you get off on the attention is it? It's not that you enjoy being liked? Being popular?"
James feels his resolve crumbling. Severus is right, this charade has gone one much too long to admit it now.
He shrugs. He will not let Severus see his weakness.
"I suppose if you put it that way, I could reconsider my position. I do have my quidditch career to think about…" he answers.
Severus sneers and pulls the back of James' neck towards him. He crushes their lips in a rough kiss before releasing him and turning away.
"You are mad to even consider telling the truth, James. It's not our style…" Severus chides.
James smirks and finishes his smoke.
"I love you." He answers.
Severus glances over his shoulder, a playful look in his eyes.
"See?" He says, "Totally bonkers."
James watches with amusement as Severus walks away. He pushes himself off the tree he is leaning on and makes his way to the common room.
"Git." He chuckles.
~~oOo~~
They are in the room of requirement, staring at each other. Their wands are drawn and they are waiting for each other to move first.
Severus knows James will break. At sixteen, James Potter is impulsive and impatient. Severus knows this from years of fighting him. He also knows from years of kissing him.
James reacts, as Severus knew we would. Severus dodges the red sparks of the Stunning Spell as they fly past his long hair and flicks his wand to disarm the ridiculous boy.
James watches with a mixture of anger and confusion as his wand leaves his hand. It clatters to the floor, rendered useless wood.
James glares at Severus, who cannot help but laugh.
The Slytherin decides to distract his rival still further by undressing his top half. He enjoys James' eyes devouring the sight of his lean torso with a heightened glee.
He pretends not to notice. He will never tell James how much he loves the attention. He takes out his cigarette box and lights one, blowing the smoke into the air.
He regards the Gryffindor impassively.
"If you aren't going to bother practicing duelling sufficiently, perhaps we should do our potions homework?" Severus suggests in his most bored sounding voice.
James spits on the floor at the statement and retrieves his wand.
"You always do my potions homework," the pure blood snaps. His annoyed expression becomes playful and he meets the Slytherin's eyes.
He too takes off his top half of clothing. Severus smokes to distract himself.
"Unless…" James continues, "you want to do your transfiguration homework this week…?"
Severus shudders.
"Perish the thought!" He exclaims, handing the cigarette to James and putting his wand in his pocket.
Both boys laugh.
Severus can work magic with a cauldron as well as he can with his fingers on James' body. James has watched him working with such confidence and passion from across the classroom, achieving potions of such purity and strength that even Slughorn is amazed.
Severus has a patient mind and clever hands. James knows this from years of being in his bed…
James looks at Severus as he draws in smoke. Without his robes swamping him, Severus is stunning to behold.
His alabaster skin seems to glow in the candle light. His dark eyes hold a wealth of secrets and silent desires. His body, now filling out, oozes masculinity. James feels a little weak and looks away. He realises, as he surrenders his cigarette to Severus again, that he has looked away too late.
"Seen something you like?" The Slytherin asks, his voice low, seductive.
James laughs and squares his stance. He will never admit he finds the half blood so arousing…
Severus grasps both James' wrists and forcefully presses him to the wall. James allows his arms to be held over his head and rolls his hips suggestively against the Slytherin's body. Severus holds his wrists in one hand and takes the cigarette from James with the other. James watches as he smokes it and coughs as Severus blows the smoke into his face. Severus presses the lit end to James's skin, lightly at first, then with enough force to make James buck and cry out in pain.
He grits his teeth and waits for the burning skin on his chest to stop throbbing. He glares at Severus.
"What was that for?" He asks, knowing the answer already.
Sirius and he had put itching powder on Severus' cloak the day before. Severus did not mind James attacking him in front of people- in fact he actively encouraged it as a way to 'hone their skills' to join the war which was raging. The silly pranks, however, James always paid for somehow when they were alone.
"You know what," Severus states, running his clever fingers over the burn before stimulating one of James' nipples. James gasps in pleasure and forgives the burn.
"You need to stop letting Black lead you," Severus says to him in an authoritative way. James is enjoying the sensations of Severus' fingers over his chest and sides, but he does not like the topic of conversation.
"Why do you wait til I'm horny to tell me off about my friends? You know I only pretend to hate you to maintain our secret- it's for us…"
Severus' hand stills for a moment before he leans forward to James' ear. He mutters an incantation and steps away.
James is confused for a split second before realising his cruel lover has used a sticking spell to bind his flesh to the wall. He forces calm into his mind and tries to relax. He has no choice but to trust the other youth, as difficult as that can be.
"Ah, you covered me in itching powder for us, did you? Not to impress your rich, pretty mate?"
"I don't like him because he's rich, nor do I find him pretty. Shut up and touch me!"
Severus cocks his head to one side. James does not like the look he is giving him and bites his tongue immediately.
A lazy flick of Severus' wand and James finds his trousers have been vanished.
The cold air hits his legs, sending involuntary shivers across his body.
He swallows thickly. He cannot let the Slytherin rattle him. Severus Snape must never be allowed to win.
"Jealousy doesn't become you, Snivellus," he goads, "perhaps Sirius would touch me? I'll go ask him…"
He winces as he is hit by several stinging hexes in a row. He takes a moment to blink tears out of his eyes and looks daggers at Severus.
Severus meets his eyes, challenging him to object.
James stretches out his torso instead, pushing his hips forward, inviting more attention. He knows how to play the Slytherin, he's done it for years.
The look the Slytherin is now giving him makes his skin erupt in goosebumps. He is like a delicious treat Severus is attempting to resist…
His instincts are right and Severus is inches away from him again. He is desperate to feel the heat of the other youth's body but Severus is tormenting him, staying slightly too far away.
James' wounds are prickling but he doesn't care, he wants contact-now.
"Please, Sev…" he whispers, the anticipation almost too much to bare, "please…"
Severus runs the tip of his wand over James naked torso. The heat from it makes James hiss with pleasure and he rolls his head back to enjoy the sensation. Severus' breath is on his ear again. He sounds as excited as James is.
"Impatient Gryffindor.." he teases, "You'll never be a great wizard like me until you learn some restraint."
James smirks and struggles against the wall.
"I'm restrained enough, thanks, you greasy git!"
Severus yanks his head by the hair roughly to the side and attacks his neck with his tongue and teeth. James gasps and moans, his stomach finally in contact with Severus, their bodies humming together. He can feel the Slytherin's arousal through his trousers, rubbing against the erection straining in his own underwear.
Severus drags his fingers down the waistband of James' flimsy garment and palms him roughly through the fabric of his boxers. The contact is wonderful yet not enough. His length is hardening with every movement of the slytherin's hand and he is becoming desperate to be touched properly.
He both loves and hates the way the half blood can play his body like an instrument.
Desperate to regain control, he goes for Severus' weak spot.
"Has your 'wife' forgiven you for calling her a Mudblood yet?"
Severus stops his movements abruptly and glares daggers at James. The spell holding his to the wall falters and James counters with shoving him off and pushing him to the floor.
He straddles the struggling Slytherin and grabs his face, kissing him with tongues and teeth.
Severus is shocked at first at this violent treatment but relaxes into the harsh kissing, fighting for dominance in a battle of mouths.
James is holding his head still so Severus wraps his arms around James' bare torso and rolls his hips into the other young man's groin.
He basks in their closeness but james' impatience is infectious and soon, dry humping is proving not enough.
"Yes…" Severus consents as James' hand is felt on his belt. "Fuck yes!"
His trousers are being undone. He looses his grip on reality for a moment as he is finally touched. Close to weeping in relief, he pushes his aching hardness into the palm of his partner's hand and scratches long lines in James' back.
James' breath catches and his body arches like a bow against the boy beneath him.
They intertwine passionately, kissing and touching each other, consumed in the moment as the whole world falls away.
He pushes through the distraction the stimulation is providing and pushes James' underwear off his backside and as far as he can down his legs.
Not one to be outdone, James breathlessly pulls at Severus' remaining clothes and before either are sure how, they are writhing against each other naked on the stone floor.
The Room of Requirement has changed while they push and slide against each other. It now resembles a bedroom, complete with a soft rug and large bed, handcuffs hanging from the oak headboard.
The boys ignore it, however. They shout and pant as they work each other, lost in animalistic, violent desire.
Severus is sucking at James' neck while James, now pinned beneath him, is starting to feel his release building like a flood behind a dam.
He starts clawing at the Slytherin's back, his pleasure reaching fever pitch.
James feels Severus suddenly become rigid above him. The sucking at his neck becomes a hard bite as...
James basks in the knowledge his lover's pleasure has been achieved through his actions before turning his thoughts to tumbling over the edge with him.
Severus has stopped his ministrations for a minute while he enjoys his own afterglow, giving James a moment to calm down.
James grins to himself and tugs the other youth roughly by the hair onto his front. James sits back on his own feet and enjoys the sensation Severus provides. James is overcome with emotion, losing himself as his heart fills to bursting.
In his moments before the end of the act, James' singular thought is how much he loves the other boy.
Severus is arrogant, strong, fierce, cruel, deliciously dark, frighteningly intelligent… James counts his blessings that such an incredible creature would be connected to him so intimately.
He finally succumbs, muttering Severus' name.
He lies backwards on the floor and stares, half aware, at the ceiling.
Severus appears at his side and lies his head on the Gryffindor's chest. James feels affectionate kisses being left on his pectoral and wraps a gentle arm around the other boy.
"I love you, you impossible man…" James whispers.
"I love you too, you ridiculous bastard…" Severus replies.