Here it is, sorry for the delay…please review…
Pt 29.
Harry was experiencing a lightness he had not felt in months. The only problem was Severus. When he saw him in Trelawney's room looking miserable he wanted to kiss and kick him all at once. Either way it was Severus' own fault. If he was suffering, he deserved to be doing so. However, that did not stop Harry from missing him. Whenever he was alone, his thoughts kept drifting to his Potions' professor. As much as he hated him for what he did, he loved him still.
That is why on Christmas Day he was sitting in the lavatory with an unopened present in his hands. It was from Severus. He had told himself if the older wizard sent him a gift he would chuck it straight into the fire, but now that he was facing the reality of carrying out his previous decision, he could not do it. He opened it quickly for fear of Ron coming to look for him. It was a pair of black jeans, and from what he could tell, expensive ones. A note attached to it said, 'Now you can look almost as good as me.' Harry snorted derisively, but he was not upset. Much to his chagrin, he felt fonder of Severus than ever.
'Harry! Where are you?'
He hastily bungled up the jeans and ran to his dormitory where he stuffed the trousers in his trunk right before Ron entered the room.
'Where were you?'
'In the loo,' he answered honestly.
'Well come on, I'm starving. Hermione's waiting for us in the common room.
They entered the Great Hall to find the usual single table with a handful of students and staff seated around it. Dumbledore and McGonagall were absent, but unexpectedly Severus was there. It was unusual; he rarely breakfasted with everyone else. Harry wondered if perhaps he was there to see him, but quickly berated himself for being stupid. Severus had made it quite clear that he wanted nothing to do with him. Even if he did, Harry did not care. Gone were the days of taking Severus' rubbish. He was not going to go back to him, not this time, so in keeping his resolve he kept his furtive glances to a bare minimum. He did notice though that he was not the only one stealing looks. Twice he caught Severus looking at him…and it infuriated him. What right did that Slytherin bastard have to sneak glances at him? He chose to end things.
'I'm not hungry,' he mumbled to Ron and Hermione before leaving the table abruptly. His friends got up and followed him shortly.
'What brought that on?' asked Hermione when they reached him.
'I wasn't hungry.'
'Bollocks,' said Ron succinctly.
'Why does everything I do have to have some deep hidden meaning?' said Harry defensively.
'I didn't say that Harry, but the manner in which you left made it obvious that something had upset you.'
'Oh.'
Ron snorted and rolled his eyes before handing his friend a muffin.
Harry smiled and accepted it. 'Thank you.'
'Prat,' said Ron affectionately.
Many hours later, the three friends were thawing out by the fire in their common room after a victorious match against two seventh year Ravenclaws and a fifth year Hufflepuff when they were all surprised by Remus Lupin coming in through the portrait hole.
'Professor Lupin!' exclaimed Hermione. 'What are you doing here?'
'Happy Christmas to you all, I'm here to speak with Harry actually.'
Harry got up and followed him to a far corner of the room.
'I've come to talk to you about your Defence classes,' began Remus without preamble.
'Er- what about them?'
'I know about you and Severus, Harry, and as badly as he treated you, it is imperative that you find a way to interact with him.'
Harry's mind was reeling.
'You - you know? How do you know? Did he tell you? You're not angry with me are you?' The nervous panic in his voice made him cringe, but he had so few adults in his life he could depend on that the idea of disappointing one of them was intolerable. He could not lose another one, even if he did not think he had done anything wrong.
'I am not angry with you Harry; you are old enough to make your own decisions. However, I cannot say that I think it was a good one; you are his student after all.'
'I know, but –'
'You don't have to explain to me.'
'Erm- how did you find out?' asked Harry sheepishly.
'My olfactory sense is astoundingly powerful close to the full moon.'
'You smelt me on him?'
'Ten points to Gryffindor,' answered Remus teasingly.
Harry's cheeks flamed, 'so – er - you know what happened then?'
'Yes I do. Severus' behaviour was despicable, but he does care a great deal for you.'
'He doesn't act like it.'
'Well there is nothing I can say to refute that, but either way I have no wish to defend him. You must, however, put that aside and work with him.'
'Why should I have to do anything with him?' he asked, petulantly.
'Harry, part of being an adult means being able to deal with the consequences or outcomes of your actions; you chose to be in a relationship with him- a relationship that really and truly should never have existed. Unfortunately it ended badly, but you still have to learn from him.'
'I never said I was an adult.'
'Your actions did.'
Harry could not argue with that, and when he did not reply, the werewolf tried another tactic, a direct order.
'You have to go; this is nonnegotiable.'
He felt a surge of unreasonable anger towards Remus, 'I don't have to do anything.'
'Those classes are important! You cannot quit because you fell out with Snape, look what happened last year!'
Remus did not have to say anything else after that.
'I'll be there for the next class,' said Harry finally. 'And Remus…I'm sorry for last year.' His throat suddenly felt tight.
'You have nothing to be sorry for,' replied Remus, laying a hand on Harry's shoulder. 'It was not your fault.'
'What was that about?' asked Hermione, the minute Lupin exited the room.
'My lessons.'
'What kinds of things do you learn?' she queried interestedly.
'Advanced defence stuff- spells, curses and things, but I'd rather not talk about. It's bad enough going to class.'
'Oh, okay,' she said, looking disappointed. She was always thirsty for knowledge.
'Hermione, it's not like I'm purposely trying to keep you from learning – I just don't want to discuss it. Actually, I think I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back in a while.'
He left before either of his friends could say anything to oppose him.
Harry wandered around idly before he ended up the Barnabas the Barmy statue. The door to the Room of Requirement appeared. Did that mean he had some sort of subconscious request? He had no clue what it was he needed but walked in with the hope of finding it. He entered and his jaw dropped. There was a comfortable armchair and a drinks trolley similar to one he had seen in Severus' rooms next to it.
'You think I need to get pissed?' Harry said more to himself than to the room. What surprised him even more than the fact that the roomed seemed to think he needed an alcohol fix was the fact that they gave it to him- an underage student. Just as he started to move towards the chair, the door opened and in walked a seventh year Slytherin that he had never spoken to; he did not even know his name.
'Potter,' he sneered.
Harry sat down and looked at him warily. 'I don't know your name.'
'You can call me Aidan.'
'Like the Quidditch player.'
Aidan glared at him but said nothing.
'What are you doing here?'
'I saw you and followed. You really should be more aware of your surroundings.'
He was right, but Harry did not let his annoyance show. 'Why?'
He shrugged and sat down in the chair that materialized across from Harry. 'So this is the Room of Requirement huh? I've heard Malfoy talk about it.' He did not answer the question. 'Why are you here?'
'I don't know, but I asked you a question first. Why did you follow me? Don't you all hate me?'
'Malfoy talks a lot of shit,' he said after a long pause, 'and it does kill losing Quidditch to you all the time, but I've never had anything against you personally.'
'Really?'
'Are you looking to give me a reason?'
'No.'
'Are we going to drink that stuff or what?'
'I don't think we should.'
Aidan got up, locked the door and then sat back down. 'Feel better?'
'A bit.' Nevertheless, he still would not touch the stuff.
'Don't be a ponce.' He reached forward and pulled the trolley to him, then poured out two glasses. He gave one to Harry. 'Drink it.'
Harry took a sip and a familiar taste erupted on his tongue. 'Is this brandy?'
'I'm surprised Potter. I wouldn't have taken you for a drinker, especially after your reluctance.'
'I'm not. I just er-'
'Your lover gave you a taste then?' he asked audaciously.
Harry almost spat out the sip he had just taken. 'What!'
'Don't deny it,' he replied smirking.
Harry's cheeks flamed for the second time that day. 'How did you know- er –how could you tell?'
'It's scrawled all over your face, very messily too, I might add, but don't worry about it. One of my lover's gave me my first drink too. He said it was his responsibility to develop my senses. I figured he just wanted to make a job of it, he'd already corrupted my body, why not my mind.'
'He?'
'Yes he. Don't you know how to pick out your own? I suppose that's part of the reason I followed you here.'
'I don't understand.' Was he saying he was interested in him?
'You never struck me as overly clever, but I did not think you were overly daft either.'
'Explain or get out,' said Harry shortly. This conversation was becoming too much for him. He did not escape from him common room just to be harassed by someone else.
'Temper Potter,' he replied lightly. Harry shot him a poisonous look. Aidan rolled his eyes and took another mouthful of his drink. 'Relax; I'm only winding you up. We're not all a bad sort, a bit surly, yeah, but not bad.'
'But why talk to me? I can't be the only queer bloke in this school.'
'No, but…well…' for the first time the Slytherin looked flushed.
'Well what? You just felt like talking to me of all people? You house isn't know for being friendly, especially towards me.'
'For fuck's sake, I was just walking and I saw you, and I don't know, I guess I thought we could talk. I don't really have any friends, and anyone I might speak to isn't here anyway. It's Christmas and I was lonely.'
'Why don't you have friends?'
'I don't need to give my housemates a reason to ostracise me. They think me odd enough as it is - I keep to myself as much as possible…I'm almost out of here.'
Harry really did not know how to digest that information - or what to say really, so he topped up Aidan's tumbler then his own and started drinking.
An hour (and many drinks) later he was pleasantly light headed and looking at Aidan with an increased interest than he had previously. Aidan was quite attractive, he had shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, light blue eyes, a straight nose and from what he could tell, a nicely developed body; the total opposite or a certain someone. Someone he wanted to forget.
'You're very good looking you know,' slurred Harry, breaking the relaxed silence.
Aidan looked startled, but smiled charmingly. 'Thank you…you're not too repulsive yourself.' His eyes fixed on Harry's intensely and Harry felt himself growing warm. 'So Harry, I can call you Harry right?' asked Aidan with surprising clarity considering how much liquor he had consumed.
'Sure,' he replied lazily, smiling.
'Good. Now this secret man of yours- is he present or past?'
'Past- extreme past,' he answered somewhat bitterly. Just thinking of the Potions professor was destroying his buzz.
'Lovely.' He pulled his chair forward until his knees bumped against Harry's own. He reached out and his hand up Harry's thigh, making his breath hitch.
'Is this the real reason you followed me then?' he asked huskily. He did not know why they were still talking; he wanted to feel Aidan's mouth with its full pink lips on his now.
'No…I just wanted to talk to someone without being afraid of what might happen it they got to know me, and for some reason I thought I could talk to you… and I was right.' He punctuated his statement by placing a chaste kiss right below Harry's left ear. The raven-haired wizard shocked him by moving forward, right into his lap.
'For the record,' said Harry, shifting around. 'I am not a slut, and I'm not looking for a relationship.'
'Neither am I, on both accounts…all right, just the latter. Now shut up and let's get on with it.'
Sometime later, Harry emerged from the Room of Requirement slightly mussed but no worse for the wear. Climaxing had sobered them both considerably, allowing them to perform sobriety charms on each other. Aidan had left a few minutes before to ensure no one saw them together. He had mixed feelings about what had happened. He could not deny that he had enjoyed it- the Slytherin certainly knew what he was doing- but at the same time he felt like he was cheating on another Slytherin. He knew they were not together anymore, but he was not remotely close to being over him.
'Harry, where have you been?' Were the words that greeted him when he stepped into his common room.
'I told you I was going for a walk Hermione.'
'Yes, but that was two hours ago- with everything that's going on, disappearing like that –'
'Please, Hermione, don't start,' he replied, sitting next to Ron on the rug by the fire. He was finishing some homework.
'Yeah, Hermy, don't start,' mimicked Ron in falsetto voice, effectively cutting off any further arguments before they began.
Both of his friends turned to stare at him.
'I've told you a million times not to call me that,' she said finally, ignoring the change in his vocal register.
'Now you can go for a million and one,' he retorted without looking up from his parchment.
'Thanks,' said Harry quietly.
'Don't thank me yet,' he whispered back. 'You and I both know you weren't walking around for two hours. I don't expect you to tell me now- obviously you don't want to talk about it, but I'll be expecting an explanation eventually… besides, I can smell the stuff on you breath.'
Hmmm, do I have to go into hiding? Please REVIEW!
