The mistletoe mocked him, hanging innocently in the doorway with an equally mocking ribbon tied around it. It was not what he needed on Christmas day.
It was certainly not what he needed when he had detention in seven minutes with the Potter brat.
He had been pushing at the boundaries of the mistletoe spell with his magic, but now he raised his hands and slashed away at the invisible wall with his wand. The time counted down too fast, the clock in his classroom laughing away with each tick of its hand.
He was not going to be caught stuck under a childish kissing bond. Whoever had hung the parasitic plant with their admittedly willful magic was going to have their innards fed to them, if Severus could help it.
He slammed against the barrier once more, hair flopping over his eyes and robe tangling in his legs.
"Professor Snape?"
He rearranged himself quickly and glared at the young man, whose dark eyebrows rose skeptically above his bottle green eyes at the sight of Severus trapped in the doorway of the potions laboratory.
"Is there a problem, Professor?" he asked, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. He looked casual—too casual, like one detention in his eighth year of school wasn't actually the most horrible thing to happen to him since finding out he'd need to complete his schooling. He was leaning his weight on one leg, looking stupid and disheveled as usual in a dark blue pullover.
Severus wasn't sure if he were disappointed at Potter's complete lack of disproportionate angst or simply impressed. The war had changed him, surely.
It had made him boring. Severus didn't like boring.
He'd been trying to rile Potter ever since the idiot had found him still breathing—inhaling more blood than air, of course—in the Shrieking Shack in May.
"Oh, there's no problem, Potter, I'm just standing under the mistletoe because I'd like a Christmas kiss," Severus said scathingly. It wasn't his best, but it did the trick.
Potter's brows fell into that familiar, delightful frown.
"You are dismissed, Potter," Severus added when the man didn't move.
Potter cocked his head and asked, "Are you going to stand there all week until the magic wears off?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I shall rip the barriers to shreds."
"Will you, then?" Potter responded, gesturing at the white berries above Severus' head. "Go ahead."
Severus sneered.
"Really, Snape? You're just going to sulk there like a stubborn arse rather than just get it over with?"
Severus frowned. What was the Gryffindor on about?
"I'd really rather get detention over with than wait for you to reschedule and ruin yet another holiday—like New Year's. I want my vacation back."
"Potter—" Severus began, worry bubbling in his stomach as the man dropped his book bag with a sigh and approached him determinedly. "Potter, don't you dare—"
Potter dared, stepping into the magic of the kissing bond and looking up at Severus, lips pursed petulantly and eyes sparkling with annoyance.
Severus slammed his head against the doorjamb and cursed the gods.
"Are you going to make me do all the work, too?" his voice rumbled, chest bumping Severus' as he leaned in close. He smelled like wood smoke, like he'd spent all day in front of the fire.
"And I thought my life could not plummet anymore into misery," Severus said, albeit distracted as Potter grabbed his waistcoat by the collar and leaned in. Was Potter as tall as he was, nowadays?
Potter kissed Severus insistently, wet lips catching on his thin ones as Severus' thoughts short-circuited. His breath smelled like pumpkin juice and his hair tickled Severus' brow. Severus grabbed at Potter's pullover, making an attempt to shove him away, the act aborted when Potter made a noise in his throat that sounded too much like enjoyment. Another warm hand touched the scar at his neck, almost delicately, as he slicked up Severus' surprised mouth with his tongue. Severus gasped, confused and blinking wide-eyed, and then watched Potter back away, Summoning his bag and sauntering into the classroom as if he'd not just kissed someone.
As if he'd not just kissed his professor—Severus.
Potter's only tell was the lingering swipe at his shiny lips with the back of his hand as he retrieved his dragon hide gloves from his bag.
The mistletoe popped out of existence above Severus, startling him out of the obvious bout of insanity that had just overcome him.
Severus cleared his throat, swept into the classroom after Potter, and proceeded to watch Potter clean every cauldron in the storage room.
He could pretend the last five minutes had not occurred if Potter could.
He could not, however, keep himself from watching Potter bite his lips over and over for the next two hours, a permanent blush staining his cheeks as he scrubbed the grime from the pewter cauldrons.
The brat certainly wasn't boring anymore.