Author's Notes: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does.
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Hogs Head
Friday night, Harry met Severus at the Hogs Head Inn around eight. They went into Hogs Head Inn past the shrunken heads. Harry noticed the white bearded barkeep. "Does our headmaster serve bitter on his off-hours?"
"That's Aberforth," said Severus. "Albus's brother. Good man, two bitters."
Hogs Head was a single room with barrels along the wall, not the kind of place you would order sparkling wine. The familiar-looking barkeep tapped a barrel and filled their mugs. At least, their bitter would be fresh.
Aberforth set their mugs on the table and took an order from another table.
"Please, tell me if I'm a teetotaller." Harry tasted his bitter.
"I've never seen you leave your books," said Severus.
"Then you should expect to carry me home." Harry took another sip. The stuff tasted bad, but Harry didn't know if all bitter tasted bad or just the stuff they sold there.
"You can nurse one pint all night."
"I think I need more than one," Harry admitted.
Aberforth returned to their table. "I heard you have amnesia."
"I heard you have a thing for goats." Severus sniffed the air. "From the smell, I guess it's true."
Harry sniffed the air then took another sip. Suddenly, the bitter didn't taste so bad. "So that's what that stench is."
"Aberforth used to work for the Order," Severus whispered. "Keeps an eye on all the Death Eaters that frequent the place."
Aberforth was pouring bitter for the other tables.
"They see us both as traitors," Harry said in hushed tones.
"No, most people have read the retraction," said Severus. "They still see me as the enemy."
Harry downed more of his bitter learning to ignore the taste. "Are you dating anyone?"
Severus huffed. "You."
Harry knew it Severus answered the questions as he was dating Harry, but Harry chose to ignore that. "I don't believe I did much dating myself. I'm told that I've always had my head in a book and I find out that I'm quite a mummy's boy. The first time I go out in the world, I meet up with Voldemort. It doesn't speak highly of me." Harry sipped more of his bitter. It was nearly gone and he expected that Aberforth would refill it before could say no.
"Not that I have much experience. I use a time turner to get enough sleep at night." Severus chugged the last of the bitter in his mug. "Actually, I forget to set my alarm or turn it off and find out when I awake that it is afternoon. I use a time turner to make my morning classes."
"You need to learn to relax." Harry moved his chair slightly so his leg was touching the other man's leg hopefully not intrusively. He didn't want everyone in the pub knowing that he was a pansy.
Severus put out the coins for Aberforth to collect. Hagrid entered the pub. Severus yelled, "Join us."
"I think you said you never were going to drink again," said Harry.
"I meant it at the time," Hagrid said.
After Hagrid sat down, Harry said, "I was about to tell Severus that he needed to tell Dumbledore that he couldn't work him day and night. The poor chap needs a time turner to get enough sleep."
"I don't need your pity," Severus sneered.
"Yeh need to care fer yehrself," Hagrid added. "One year yeh'd look back and wonder wha' yeh did with yehr life."
"And you're happy with your life?" Severus took a clug of bitter.
Aberforth refilled the mugs and brought out a mug that must have been at least a quart for Hagrid.
Hagrid blew off part of the head on his bitter and laid some coin on the table. "The round is on me."
"So, Rube, are you happy with your life?" Harry asked.
"I'm well. I like me job an' the company I keep. I have no complaints." Hagrid downed much of that oversized mug. "Buddy?"
"I'm relearning too fast. It makes my head spin. I've covered six years of charms in a matter of months and Severus here believes I could relearn enough to use any potion text in three lessons," Harry said. "He says it's a waste for me to attend his class."
"It mus' be overwhelmin'." Hagrid nodded.
"I feel like I've gone from twelve to twenty-eight in a matter of months," Harry said barely above his breath. "It's not fair that the bloke that is buried in Godric Hollow should be forgotten so fast."
"When a child dies, it isn't like you have great stories to tell of him," Severus said.
"He faced Voldemort twice. His life might have been brief, but at least it was interesting," Harry said.
"Inus, you won't forget," Severus said.
"My mum showed me pictures and told me stories of my childhood. My mind creates the memories." Harry put his face in hands. "What if I forget?"
"Yeh won't," Hagrid said.
"I feel that I lose more of him everyday," Harry said. "And this tournament business makes me feel so old. I train with Sirius but he puts me to shame. He should be the one in the contest. He can run a marathon. The man is buff."
"Yeh sound jealous of Remus," Hagrid said.
"Heavens no. Sirius is my godfather and he's not all there if you get my meaning." Harry sipped his bitter. He hoped he didn't finish the second pint as fast as the first.
"Three lessons ter learn two years o' potions," Hagrid repeated.
"After I teach him to proper technique, he can open any text and make any potions," Severus said.
"Then, why do yeh need five years o' it?" Hagrid asked.
"It takes dunderheads I teach five years to learn how to segment a worm correctly," Severus said.
"Buddy, I'll take yeh back." Hagrid put a hand on Harry's shoulder.
Harry got on his feet. He was a little unstable but he felt that he could make it back to Hagrid's hut. "Can we go to your hut?"
"Feel a bit dizzy?" Hagrid asked wrapped an arm under his shoulders.
"I'm capable of walking," Harry insisted, pulling himself as straight as possible.
xxxx
Hagrid allowed the door of the pub to slam behind them. "We talk in me hut o'er a cup o' strong tea."
"Thank you." Harry saw no one else in the path around the lake returning to Hogwarts. "You're afraid you'll hurt me. You're using my youth as an excuse."
"I'm bigger than yeh an' if I hurt yeh," said Hagrid.
"You're bigger than everyone." Harry turned from Hagrid pulling away and puked on the path. "Sorry."
"A biscuit an' some tea will settle yehr stomach," Hagrid said.
"Severus warned me that I was a teetotaller." Harry felt a bit better. His head was a bit clearer, but his stomach hurt a bit more. "I worry for Sirius. He spends too much time as a dog."
"Remus and he are happy."
"He's a man. He should act like one."
"Buddy, he spent most o' his adult life in Azkaban. He doesn't have anywhere ter go, other than Remus's arms. He has the Black estate an' the money from the State. He doesn't need ter work."
"He could travel. See the countryside. If I didn't need to work, I would spend more time traveling," Harry said. "I don't only want to see the world in my books."
"We can take the train in the summer. See the English countryside like muggles." Hagrid touched Harry's arm allowing him to walk under his own weight.
"And a number of Death Eaters may want my head on a plate after they read the transcripts." Harry squeezed Hagrid's hand.
"Headmaster Dumbledore will protect yeh."
"Severus is so afraid to leave the castle. Dumbledore takes advantage of Severus's fear. He makes him work more hours than there are in a day. He looks old for his age because he uses a time turner to give himself more hours." If he added six to eight hours to each day, it soon became years. "Dumbledore doesn't seem to realise what he is doing to Severus."
"Talk to Minerva. She makes Dumbledore quake."
"Severus has his pride. He would never want me to talk to Minerva behind his back."
"Ask him ter talk ter her himself." Hagrid wrapped his arms around Harry in front of the hut.
"You shouldn't kiss me." Harry looked at Hagrid. "You have your eye on Maxime."
"I do, but she has her eyes on her students," Hagrid said. "She won't give me the time o' day."
"I want to date Severus, but I fear that gossip could spread through the campus and Severus would feel the need to resign," Harry stated. "He's witty, intelligent, able to laugh at himself."
"Yeh can stay here until yeh sober up," Hagrid said. "No pressure. I can tell yeh about me troubles approachin' Olympe Maxime."
