Chapter 10
Harry was very aware that he really needed to stay on Severus' good side, especially since he needed the other man to help him find and decorate a new house. Bearing this in mind, he decided that he would not awaken Severus at five in the morning like he had done previously.
Instead, Harry was found knocking on Severus' dungeon quarters at half-past five in the morning. When a bleary-eyed Severus opened the door, he was presented with a perky Harry Potter shoving a basket of freshly baked lemon muffins under his nose.
"Morning, sleepy-head! Time to get up. I've made breakfast already, so all you have to do is freshen up, grab a muffins and some coffee and we're good to go!" With that, Harry pushed himself past Severus and seated himself primly on the couch. He took a muffin out of the basket he was carrying and proceeded to nibble on it. Severus shook his head in an effort to clear it before closing his door.
"At least you let me sleep in half an hour more, brat."
Harry waved at him with a half-eaten muffin, stifling a smile at Severus' messy hair as the older man made his way to the bathroom. Once Severus had brushed his teeth and splashed water on his face, he could start to appreciate the fresh smell of lemon that had wafted into bedroom. He dressed in his usual black robes and tied his shoulder-length hair with a black silk ribbon. Then he walked out to his sitting room, and found Harry just finishing off his second lemon muffin.
He grabbed one muffin for himself and sat down next to Harry on the couch. They continued to munch in silence. Severus distantly noted that the lemon muffins were delicious, light and fluffy. He also noted a distinct fresh green apple scent that seemed to be coming from Harry. He reined in the urge to push his face into the wild mop of black hair and sniff. Harry took the opportunity to present Severus with a napkin of buttered toast, saying, "Make sure you fill your stomach, Sev!"
Once breakfast was over and Harry had packed away the remains of the meal into the basket, Severus pulled out a sheet of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. He looked at Harry expectantly.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well, what would you want your house to look like, brat?"
"Sev!"
"It is true, is it not. I'm sure you will want to list down all the little details you want in your house, including wallpaper and little knick-knacks and how many of those monstrous kitchen appliances."
"Did you just call my kitchen appliances monstrous, Severus Snape?! Just you wait, you horrible man; I will not bake you any more of my tempting creations. So there!"
Severus forgot himself momentarily, and threw himself with abandon into the argument. "Oh, woe is me! What shall I do without the delicious goodies that you bake?"
The two friends proceeded to continue their friendly argument all the way out of the dungeons, through the Entrance Hall, and on the path to Hogsmeade. Albus passed through the Entrance Hall, and caught sight of them leaving Hogwarts together.
"It warms the cockles of my old heart to see the two of them back together again".
* * * * * *
Severus and Harry wandered down the streets of Hogsmeade towards the housing agents' office. A Mrs. Tart was waiting for them outside the offices with a large folder in hand. She looked exactly like her name: red-cheeked, rotund, graying hair. She was also very cheerful and bubbly, exactly what Severus detested. Except in Harry, of course.
"Good morning, gentlemen! How nice to see you both bright and early this morning. Now, are we ready for a little 'walk-about' around Hogsmeade? I hope you brought your comfortable walking shoes! Now off we go!"
Mrs. Tart started to walk away. Severus and Harry stared after her, then simultaneously looked at each other.
"Sev, I think we picked the wrong housing agent".
"I sure as hell did not pack for a sprint down Hogsmeade."
"GENTLEMEN! COME ALONG! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY! LOTS TO SEE AND DO!" Harry and Severus cringed at the hollering of Mrs. Tart. Such a loud voice to come from such a tiny woman! She was yelling from the very end of the street. Without sonorous.
They hurried after the diminutive figure.
* * * * * *
"Now I'm sure this house will be perfect for you, Mr. Potter! It is a nice two-storey house, with a large fireplace, so you can sit in front of the fire. Really nice marble flooring…"
Harry tuned out Mrs. Tart's chattering about the latest house. Honestly he was beginning to suspect that the housing agent was simply presenting to the same house to him in different locations. He was sure he had seen the same house, in the same design, four times already. Did the wizarding world have a Xerox machine?
"…and of course the bedrooms come fully furnished, at a very reasonable price too, I must say."
Severus took the chance to cut in when Mrs. Tart paused to take a breath.
"Ma'am. By any chance how big is the kitchen in this house?"
"Oh, sir. In a house like this, the kitchen is huge! Lovely stone flooring, gigantic ovens, high ceiling. It really is a steal at a price like this! But I was talking at the bedrooms; silly boy, you distracted me! Now, I personally like the fact that each bedroom comes with an attached bathroom…"
Severus bristled at being called a 'silly boy'.
Harry just continued to shake his head. "May we see the next house please, Mrs. Tart?"
* * * * * *
Three hours later, they had seen almost all the houses on Mrs. Tarts' formidable looking folder. Her energy level seemed to have waned as well; she was walking at a tolerable pace for her two customers to keep up. Severus and Harry were exhausted by now.
"Mrs. Tart, have you shown us all the properties you have on your list?"
"Well, there is one more property left; but I'm not sure it will be good enough for you. Why, it's small and quite a distance from town!"
"Please show it to us, Mrs. Tart. We would like to see it."
The housing agent frowned, but brought them out of the town proper into the countryside. Nestled in a small valley in front of some woods, stood a small cottage. It had a red-brick roof.
"Oh, this is The Cottage. Built in 1850 when Hogsmeade was just set up. It hasn't been inhabited by people for quite some time now. Pretty run down place, I would say. How about I go back to the office and find some more places for you to view tomorrow?"
"Mrs. Tart, please take me to see this cottage", Harry requested.
The housing agent spluttered a little, but regained her composure quickly and brought them to the cottage. Sure enough, the house was old and run-down. The little garden in the front was overgrown with weeds, and whatever plots there were of flowers and herbs were barely visible through the growth.
Inside, the floors were dusty. Harry bent down and rubbed his finger through the dust, earning a slight kick in the ribs from Severus, who thought the former was hopelessly without manners if he bent down and cleaned the floor with a stranger present. Harry looked up excitedly and tugged at Severus' robes, his fingers caked with black dust.
"Sev, look! This is a lovely wooden floor! A bit of polish would set it right."
Severus twitched his robes irritably out of Harry's grasping fingers.
"Don't you get century-old dirt on my clean robes, you dirty brat."
Mrs. Tart took no notice of their little squabble, but continued to introduce the little cottage as best she could. When she turned the corner into the kitchen, Severus bent down and whispered into Harry's ear, "But you are quite right, Harry; a bit of polish would set this floor agleam".
Their faces were really close again, and Harry swallowed nervously at the memory of what happened the last time their faces were this close. He could see Severus' eyelashes! The moments passed, and they did not look away from each other. Harry darted his tongue out to wet his lips.
Severus' eyes followed the motion of the little pink tongue. Intensely.
The air began to feel really warm…
"Oh, Mr. Potter! Mr. Snape! Come look at this!"
Inwardly swearing at the housing agent for spoiling the intimate moment, the two stood up and went into the kitchen.
Harry stopped in his tracks at the kitchen entrance, making Severus bump into him with a grunt of surprise.
"Oh my. This is heaven." He whispered to himself.
The wide green eyes circled around the small kitchen repeatedly. The countertops were made of solid wood, and he could make out a hint of the grain underneath the layer of dust. There was no kitchen island; instead a solid oak table stood at one side of the wall. There was room in the space under the stove to put in an oven, and little niches at the walls provided spaces to put shelves and possibly a new refrigerator.
He turned to Mrs. Tart, eyes agleam.
"I'll take it, Mrs. Tart."
The housing agent spluttered.
"But Mr. Potter! This place is seriously run down! I can introduce you a much better property somewhere else."
"I said I'll take it off your hands, Mrs. Tart. This cottage is just right for me."
* * * * * *
"And you took the cottage based on the kitchen?" Hermione asked. She and Ron were visiting Harry at Hogwarts since it was a Saturday. Harry had arranged to take Saturdays off, and he was not worried about his café at all. Jenny Watson could handle it superbly. All the pastries were made, and the soup just needed heating it up on the stove. Similarly, the sandwich fillings were sitting in Tupperware containers in the refrigerator, so Jenny had an easy afternoon ahead of her.
The trio of best friends sat on Harry's couch, eating the fresh banana cake Harry had made that morning. Hermione had produced a box of Japanese green tea when she arrived, saying it was a souvenir from her recent work trip to Japan. Harry cradled his warm cup of green tea and started considering how it could possibly be used in desserts.
"Look at him, 'Mione. He's off to LaLa land again. I bet you anything he's probably daydreaming of ingredients."
"Yes Ron- stop that! That's three slices of cake you've eaten now. You have to save some for Harry to eat!"
Harry came out of his green tea daze. "Oh, it's no bother guys. Eat as much as you want; I hardly eat my own creations anyway. I've already set aside some portions to bring down to Sev later."
Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.
"That reminds me, Harry. You never finished your house-hunting story yet. I believe you were just on the cottage…"
"Oh yes! It was such a lovely little cottage: all cozy and snug and warm. It's got wooden flooring; just need to put down a nice thick rug and I'll be set in the winter. The kitchen's the best of all! It's not too big, unlike most of the houses I was shown. Just enough space for me and my friends to chill out and relax. Severus agrees too. He's taking me furniture shopping within the next two days."
Hermione raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The topic of conversation changed after that. Ron left the room soon after to use the bathroom, and Hermione turned to Harry.
"So Harry. Is there anything you'd like to tell me about you and Severus?"
"We're good friends, 'Mione. What are you thinking?"
"It just sounds like you guys are awfully close. Your sentences mostly include 'Severus says' or 'Severus thinks' these days. I honestly thought you two were planning to move into your snug little cottage together!"
Harry choked on his tea
When he recovered, he said, "Hermione. Severus and I are friends. It would ruin our friendship if we desired to pursue a romantic relationship together."
"Why?"
"Well, we would argue! And fight a lot. I like the way we are now, you know. It's easy to be around him, and I don't want to spoil it."
"Harry, relationships take work, no matter whether they're friendships or romantic relationships. I can see Severus is very important to you. Don't be afraid to pursue something deeper if you feel it. I mean, all this is only from your point of view. Have you thought about Severus? I mean, what if he's been thinking of chasing you, but you're putting the barriers up at friendship."
Ron entered the room just then. Hermione stood up, ignoring her boyfriend's cry of "But I want some more cake!".
"Just think about what I said, Harry. You never know. It might do you some good."
* * * * * *
Harry was unable to forget what Hermione had said. He tossed and turned in his bed. He ran through his memories of the last year, and realised with a jolt how many of those memories included Severus.
Then his thoughts turned to the kiss they had shared in the Malfoy gardens. This was quickly followed by the memory of the almost-kiss in the cottage.
Should he go for it?
His dreams were filled with dark onyx eyes that night, not knowing that far below in the dungeons, a certain potions master was dreaming of bright green eyes and full, rosy lips.
Hey guys! OMG I'm so so so sorry about not posting this chapter up earlier. Thanks for waiting so patiently for me to update. I really do hope you enjoy this new chapter. That said, I make no promises on when the chapter 11 will be available. Things are only going to get busier over the next few weeks. But this fic will not be abandoned. Thanks for being my faithful readers! Lemon muffins and banana cake to all those who review!