Although Matthew and Roger were blushing much more than usual over the next week, Harry could tell they loved each other by the way they looked at the other when they thought no one was watching. They touched at every opportunity and held hands wherever they went, almost as inseparable as Fred and George.
On Wednesday night, Harry couldn't sleep. It was the unexplainable kind of inability to sleep that plagued him at random times and had no solution other than to stick it out. But . . .
Severus stared at him, pajama-clad and standing outside his quarters.
Harry flushed and shuffled his feet. "I couldn't sleep."
The door opened wider and Severus walked, mouth discreetly upturned, with him back to the blue bedroom. Once they were under the covers, Harry faced him with the sheets up to his chin; and smiled.
He received an amused smile in return, and found Severus' hand underneath the blue blanket. He ran his fingers up the sleeve of the shirt, to the elbow, the shoulder, and down across Severus' chest to rest on his heart. Black eyes were watching him tranquilly as Harry found the top button of his nightshirt.
They locked gazes, black giving green permission to go ahead. Harry's own heart was fluttering as his face drew closer; he kissed him lingeringly, savoring how perfect their lips seemed to fit together. He swung his leg over Severus' hip and turned them so Harry was sitting atop him, smiling against his mouth.
"This is supposed to help you sleep?" came the slightly muffled question. Harry just kept smiling.
His fingers didn't fumble with each button that came undone, their mouths still together in a slow kiss, finally moving aside the fabric. Fingertips traveled from Severus' collarbone down across the expanse of his smooth chest, to the jut of his hip and back to the top. This time it was Severus that smiled, and he soon found out why.
Long-fingered hands moved from Harry's thighs up to his ribs, pushing up the cloth that was his own nightshirt. He drew his face back momentarily to allow Severus to pull it over his head, the shirt then being discarded beside them while this time fingertips roamed over Harry's skin and sent tingles as they did.
Eventually Harry rolled off him, but their hands continued to touch as much of the other as they could. They settled with Severus' chest against his back, chin nestled on Harry's shoulder and a pale arm thrown over his waist.
Somehow, Harry now had no problem drifting off to sleep.
x
The next Saturday morning, there was an almost noticeable difference between Matthew and Roger's behavior. They were constantly smiling and touching, kissing at the smallest opportunity and
getting lost in each other's eyes more than usual; all this made it quite plain (to those who knew) what must have happened the night previously.
"Harry! Harry, guess what!" Hermione practically shouted at him when he sat down for breakfast, Severus wincing slightly to his left at the noise.
"What?" he asked.
She shoved a wrinkled letter in his hands that looked as if it had been read far more times than was necessary for memorizing the short number of words:
Captain Paradox,
The Phoenix Nest would like you to play this coming Saturday, March 21st. Reply as soon as possible if you can make it.
Perry Schwann
Manager of The Phoenix Nest
"What do you think?" Hermione asked excitedly. "Just came last night! Come on, we have to!"
"Do we?" Harry said, allowing the smallest bit of unlikely hope into his voice.
"Yes, we do!" she replied, snatching the letter back and gazing at it as if it held the secrets to immortality. Ron and Luna looked just as eager as her, but Neville seemed on the verge of turning green.
"Come on, Neville! Be excited!" Luna said as she pushed back a strand of hair from his eyes. He just shook his head and stared at The Daily Prophet. Hermione immediately picked it up and read the headline, her jaw dropping.
"He didn't!" Her voice was somewhere between horror and extreme excitement. "I mean, I might've already told him we were coming . . ." she trailed off guiltily.
Harry's eyes narrowed and he took the paper from her, his jaw also dropping when he saw what was on it.
HARRY POTTER PLAYING AT THE PHOENIX NEST THIS SATURDAY
Come join us at The Phoenix Nest this coming Saturday, March 21st, for a special performance from Captain Paradox. They will take up stage at nine o'clock, so be there beforehand for drinks on the house just for this special occasion. Other musicians are welcome to come and share their talents, as are Talent-Spotters to come and spot it.
Underneath was The Phoenix Nest's address in Hogsmeade and how to reserve a spot for playing. Hermione continued to grin enormously as she stared off into space, Ron and Luna joining her, and Neville just continuing to look extremely sick.
"You agree for us to play and then they turn this into some publicity thing for the front page?" Harry asked.
"People have been dying to see you since that article," Luna pointed out. She was promptly scowled at.
Harry sighed. "I guess I don't really have a choice. Thanks to somebody."
Hermione had the decency to look slightly ashamed, though her grin never faltered.
To Harry and Neville's horror, students that were of age were allowed to attend The Phoenix Nest on Saturday, so long as they were in their dormitories before midnight. And was just his luck, nearly all Seventh Years and Sixth Years who'd already had their birthdays could be spotted talking animatedly about it over the week.
