Chapter Fourteen

Harry led Snape down the familiar road out of the Leaky Cauldron. They turned a couple of times, and then they were at the diner that he had been frequenting since their contract had started. The staff all knew him by now and greeted him pleasantly. He led Snape over to his usual table, one off in the corner. As he sat down, he pushed the menu away. After all, he pretty much had it memorized by now, seeing as how he'd been coming here about twice a week for about a month now.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "You are quite familiar with this place," he noted. "And the staff seem quite familiar with you as, well."

Harry shrugged. "I go here every time I'm over at your lab," he explained.

About then, their waitress came over. "Hi, how are you doing?" She was very friendly, reasonably attractive and about five years older than him. She treated him well whenever she served him. "And you're not alone for once." She looked over at Snape before looking back at Harry. "What will you have to drink today?"

"Just water," Harry responded.

"Same," Severus echoed.

She walked away. Harry looked back at Severus, almost wishing he still had his menu. It was very awkward, just sitting there and waiting for… something, he wasn't sure. Their waitress came back and set their waters down on the table. "So, gentlemen, what can I get for you?" She turned to Harry. "The usual?" Harry nodded, hating that he was so predictable - about as much as he hated the smirk that was on Snape's lips at the moment. The waitress nodded before, turning to Snape. "And for you, sir?"

"Turkey sandwich."

"Okay, I'll put these right in. Chips okay for both of you?" They nodded. "Okay. Brilliant." She smiled and then walked off.

Harry looked straight at Snape. "Do you have to have that smirk on your face?"

"You're here so often and order the same thing so much that the waitress just tells you, 'the usual'?" Snape said.

Harry shrugged. "I know what I like."

"Have you even ordered anything else?" Harry glared at him. "I thought so." They sat there awkwardly for a couple of minutes until Snape spoke again. "So, how is your studying going?"

Harry blinked at him. "Er, what?"

"It's called conversation," Severus said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "It's typically what you do when eating a meal with someone."

Harry blushed. "Er, right, of course," he said. "Er, it's going okay. I mean, I don't study as much as I want to. Hermione made me a plan, but I don't stick to it all that well. It's not for lack of trying, though, it's just…" Harry shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to go into details, so he settled on moving his straw around in his glass. "Practicing at your place is the only thing I regularly do."

To his surprise, Snape didn't berate him. "Since that was your worst subject in school, it is probably wise that you do that more than you do anything else." Well, no more than usual, anyway.

Harry looked up at him and smirked at him. "I suppose that's a good point," he said. "Although, I'm not sure it was my skills as much as the teacher himself." That earned him a glare. "I did get an E on the… to get into the advanced classes."

"Yes, because I was not the teacher."

"What, do you have five students in the class usually?" Harry asked. "There was only twelve in Slughorn's."

"Including Mr. Weasley, if memory serves."

"Yeah, that's right, Ron made it, too," Harry agreed.

"Well, at least, Mr. Longbottom didn't make it in."

"You know, he's going to be teaching at the school next year. He's quitting his job."

"I suppose he's teaching… about plants," Snape said. "That was his best subject, wasn't it?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, and he might be the youngest teacher ever, at least, the youngest since you." He tried to keep the smirk off his face.

"You say that as if it would matter to me."

"Well, you do have to be better than everyone at everything, don't you?" Harry knew he was just egging him on now, but honestly, he wasn't having a terrible time.

Snape stared at him for a moment before responding. "If Mr. Longbottom has beaten me out for the youngest teacher, that doesn't bother me a bit. I never wanted to be a teacher anyway."

"You weren't very good at it, either," Harry said, and this time, he was smirking. Luckily, they were interrupted by their food arriving.

Their waitress smiled at them. "Your turkey sandwich, sir," she said, setting the food down in front of Snape. "And your usual." She sat his burger down in front of him. "Anything else I can get for you?" They shook their heads. "Okay, let me know if you need anything else." With that, she smiled and walked off.

For a while, the two of them ate mostly in silence, except for a couple of comments about the food being good. Of course, it was, or Harry wouldn't have kept coming back here so many times. What are we supposed to converse about? he thought to himself. Maybe he should have thought this through before he invited Severus to come out to lunch with him. He was more thinking of trying to get him to stop watching every move he made. Besides, if they had to spend time together, getting to know each other on a non-teacher/student level couldn't hurt, right?

"So, why did you decide to start your business?" Harry asked at one point when that silence was starting to annoy him a bit.

"I enjoyed the idea of working for myself," Snape said. "Working for other people has not been my forte."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Harry said, a smile on his face.

"What else would you have thought I could do?" Snape gave him a look that clearly said he didn't know why he had even asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know; I wasn't sure what else you would want to do. Hermione always assumed that you were the anonymous master behind the shop, though," he said.

"Of course, she would."

"Have you ever thought about writing a book?" Harry asked in a half-joking manner.

Snape stared at him. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, you were correcting textbooks when you were a teenager." After all, Snape had already known that Harry had used his book, so there was no use in not admitting that. Snape scoffed at him as if the idea was ludicrous. Harry just shrugged. "You wouldn't have to use your real name. You could use a pseudonym." Snape didn't respond to that one, either, and they ate in silence some more.

After they had finished their food, the two sat there for a bit longer before Harry asked for his check. Their waitress smiled and asked if everything had been good. They replied that it had, and then Harry paid before they made their way out to the street. Harry and Snape began the trek back to the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. It wasn't long before they were at Snape's shop again.

"See, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Harry said, a cheeky smirk on his face.

Snape turned back to him and glared. "I admit that your company wasn't… terrible." Harry just smiled at him, knowing it would annoy him more than anything. The older man just rolled his eyes, put his robe back on and then went to work.

Harry shook his head but admitted to himself that he hadn't had a terrible time. A part of him figured that this was supposed to mean something. He wasn't sure what, though. Or if he was just crazy. That was always a possibility, as far as he was concerned.

Harry and Severus worked in silence for a bit before Harry left.

Ron was working late again, so Hermione decided to come over and visit. He didn't mind. It wasn't as if she and Ron were around all the time or anything. He had plenty of alone time.

"So, how are things going with Snape?" Hermione asked partway through dinner.

Harry shrugged. "Fine, I guess. We went to lunch today."

Hermione froze and stared at him. It was clear to him by the look on her face that she couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. "Wait, what?"

"Well, I got tired of him always staring at me, so I asked him to go to lunch with me."

Hermione frowned. "I don't understand."

"I mean, if he's going to watch me all the time, he might as well come to lunch with me," Harry said. "I mean, that way he knows I'm not going to get back ahead of him. Maybe after this, he'll be less judgemental."

Hermione nodded, but Harry could tell she wasn't completely convinced. "So, did it? I mean, how were things after you two came back?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. The same, I suppose. We'll see."

After dinner, the two of them went to the couch. Hermione had made them some tea. They were watching the telly when Ron Flooed in. "I thought you two would be here," he said. "Great news, Harry! Mum's throwing you a party on your birthday!"

Harry looked back at him and shrugged. "She does that every year."

"Yeah, but on your birthday, mate! She told everyone to be there, to get off work early," Ron said. Harry shrugged again. "I don't understand why you're not thrilled. It's a party."

"Yeah, if I wanted to do something on my birthday, I would have said so," Harry told him. "I don't want a party. I just want to hide and be left alone." As far as he was concerned, his birthday was no reason to celebrate. Also, his past year had been really hard. "Besides, that's a contract date, so I'm going to be in a really bad mood."

Ron walked over and sat next to him on the couch. "Look, mate, you turned down the party last year. Mum wants to do something for you, just like she does for all of us."

Harry groaned. Now he was making him feel guilty. Hermione put a gentle hand on his arm. "Hey, it might be fun. Besides, it's food that you don't have to cook, a cake… You can always leave early if you're not feeling up to it."

Harry nodded, knowing that he had been roped in now. "All right." The two of them left soon afterward. He just decided to go to bed. He was not thrilled with the idea of a party.

Severus begrudgingly admitted that Potter's company during lunch hadn't been terrible. A simple lunch wasn't going to change things though he had to admit that Potter had a point. He didn't trust Potter alone his lab, and if going to lunch with him meant that he could keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't get back before he did under any circumstances, then it was worth it. At least, he wouldn't have to cut his lunch short now on the off chance that Potter did return before he was finished eating and back down in the lab.

It wasn't until the next contract date three days later that he saw Potter again, thankfully. He showed up at the same time as he always did. Severus glanced back at him and saw Potter working on some potion. Potter glanced up and met his gaze. The potions master turned away and went back to his own work. It was then the door to his lab opened. Seeing as he wasn't expecting anyone else, Severus immediately turned his head around to see who dared walk into his lab without his permission.

It was Monroe. He wasn't expected today. "Sorry, sir, but I wanted to work on a potion before lunch if you don't mind," the young man said.

Severus just nodded and went back to his work. Monroe knew the drill, so he went over to his corner opposite Potter and went to work. The three of them worked in silence for a bit until lunch neared.

Monroe was cleaning up as he spoke once again. "Also, sir, I wanted to come by to invite you, in person, to my wedding next Spring," he said.

They finally set a date, Severus thought to himself. It didn't matter much to him, but he had been anticipating an invitation. Monroe was many things, but he knew that his apprentice would see it as logical and respectful to do so. It was a far cry from the arrogant young man he really was, but he rarely saw that young man around him. Monroe was always more respectful around him.

"We wanted to put it off until after the baby is born in November," Monroe continued, and he seemed not to care that his former teacher wasn't responding. "Rhapsody wants to get back into shape."

Severus turned around and walked over to Monroe's potion, not really caring to hear any more about him and his Ravenclaw fiancee. "Your potion is satisfactory. You may go," he told him, going back to his own work.

Monroe nodded. "I'll leave the invitation over here, sir," he said. "I hope you'll attend since you taking me on as an apprentice is probably a good reason as to why I'm going to be getting that job as a Potions Researcher at the Magical Researching Institute. Since I will get the job." Severus could almost hear the smirk in the young man's voice. "See you later, sir." With that, Monroe left.

"Magical Researching Institute?" Potter piped up. Severus had noticed that he had paid attention to their conversation. "What on Earth is that?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "How is it that you manage to know so little?" he said, a scathing tone to his voice. "It is a business, with departments for various branches of magic - Potions, Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, et cetera… The researchers employed there do cutting-edge research on various projects."

Potter nodded. "Oh, okay," he said. "Never heard of it."

"That much was obvious."

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Later that afternoon, he gave Potter his next dosage, and he left. Severus picked up the wedding invitation and put it on his desk. The next day was uneventful, but of course, Saturday was his next chess night with Lucius. Severus wasn't entirely looking forward to it, but then again, he would like to beat him again. The arrogant blond had taken advantage of their conversation last night. Severus wouldn't let that happen again.

Lucius, of course, arrived at the exact time that they had previously arranged. Severus already had their glasses and the bottle ready, as well as the chess set. The chairs were also in position. They began the match, their robes were thrown casually over the back of their chairs.

"So, how you have been, Severus?" Lucius asked about halfway through their first game.

"Fine," he told him. If he thinks he's getting the better of me again, he's wrong, Severus thought to himself.

"Business is good?"

"Of course."

"And your arrangement with Potter?"

"What about it?" Severus asked, scathingly.

"Ah, so you haven't fucked the boy yet."

Severus shot Lucius a furious glare. "I want nothing to do with Potter," he said firmly. "I will be very glad when our contract is completed, and I never have to see him again."

Lucius just nodded and waved a hand at him. "If you say so."

Severus had spent the rest of the night wondering why Lucius would even think such a thing. He wanted nothing to do with Potter at all. He did manage to beat him in all three matches, which thoroughly annoyed his old friend. They parted ways, with the blond saying something about denial before stepping through the fireplace. What in Merlin's name is he trying to get at? Well, he knew the answer to that, but why?

Severus put it out of his mind. He didn't want to think about Potter, let alone anything else. This was a sign that Lucius was obviously deranged.

Monday came around, and unfortunately, so did Potter. Since tomorrow was a contract date, he hadn't expected to see him today.

Potter seemed to sense something because he spoke his excuses as he went over to his cauldron. "Sorry, I would've come tomorrow, but I have a… well, a thing for my birthday, so... " He shrugged.

So, his adoring subjects are throwing him a party. How lucky to be him. Severus just sneered. "I do not care what you do."

Potter shrugged. "I know that. I only thought you might want to know my reasons instead of thinking that I show at some random times just to annoy you."

"Of course, the thought had never crossed my mind," Severus said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Now if you don't mind, some of us have to work."

Potter was silent after that. Every now and again, Severus would glance over at him to make sure that he wasn't screwing anything up while using his lab. Nothing of the sort happened, and the morning passed without incident.

As Lunch came around, Potter decided to invite Severus again. Of course, he refused. "Once was enough."

"I just thought you might want to keep an eye on me," Potter said. "You have been glancing at me all day. Just to make sure that I don't get back before you."

"See that you do not."

Potter just shrugged and left. Severus took his own lunch soon after that, annoyed at Potter's words. The boy acted like everything he did was because of him specifically and not because he was using his lab. He had every right to watch him! Lucius' words went through his mind, but he pushed them out. It was absurd.

Potter returned after lunch, and of course, Severus had already been down in the lab and back to work. Severus thought that he had never wanted the contract to be over so much as the boy left, telling him he'd drop by after the 'thing' tomorrow. It was the only then that Severus realized that he didn't seem to be thrilled by the idea.

"What, get enough of your adoring subjects already? A party is too much?" Severus said, a scalding tone in his voice.

Potter's green eyes - Lily's eyes - glared at him. "No," he said furiously. "For your information, I didn't even want one! I hate parties. It's just… too much, too much of everything. I don't want to celebrate my birthday. I don't even want to have one!" It seemed as if he had said it all in one breathe, because he quickly started taking deep breaths, and Severus remembered his chest injury. "I mean, do you understand?" The last words were said a bit more softly.

Severus looked at Potter, his mind trying to form around the fact that they had something in common. "Yes, that's something that I understand quite well."

Potter just blinked at him. "Yes, well, so I'll see you tomorrow, Severus."

Severus nodded, watching Potter as he walked out the door, wondering in what universe could he have anything in common with Harry Potter?