Dangerous Love
by valacirca
Part Two
Professor Severus Snape. Potions Master, Head of House Slytherin, a former Death Eater and a War Hero. Short-tempered, biased towards his own house, and walks around with a dark cloud hanging over him. That was how most people see him. No one messes with him, and even the majority of the faculty was afraid of him.
In everyone's opinion, the Potions Master needed to get laid a little more frequently. But none would dare touch a werewolf's mate, especially since said werewolf has been on a two-year vacation from teaching and was on the road to becoming a full human (very irritable these creatures were during that state of therapy).
And so the Potions Master was likewise extremely sour at the current condition he was in. He'd always been like that anyway, so what was everyone complaining about?
During his free time, Severus Snape never spend time on the teacher's lounge, preferring the quiet solitude of his rooms in the dungeons. The only two times that he was required to attend such gatherings with the teachers were during staff meetings and meals at the Great Hall.
But every once in a while, Severus Snape would be seen reading quietly on the corner of the teacher's lounge, sprawled on a large black Muggle beanbag. It was one of the very few things that assuaged the faculty that Snape was human after all.
So everyone was stunned when one morning Snape entered the faculty lounge, grabbed a cup of tea and sat on the stuffy purple couch at the center of the room. Everyone looked on curiously.
"So, Severus," said the Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, cheerily. She seemed to be the only one undaunted by the Professor's dark and gloomy image. "Have you heard of the latest gossip from the students?"
Almost immediately, everyone in the room turned their attention to the conversation.
"I heard they've been at it for quite some time now," remarked Madam Pince.
"I think the Grapevine just got a little too creative," replied Madam Hooch.
"Oh shush all of you," chastised the McGonagall. "Anyone who knows those two enough would be able to say that there's nothing going on. I've had to keep both my eyes on them for the past six years, don't you think so Severus?"
"Pardon?" Snape said confusedly.
"Potter and Malfoy of course," said the Herbology teacher.
Severus blinked. "What about them?" he asked getting slightly irritated. He never liked not knowing what was going on.
"Well, they say that—"
"Ahem," called the voice of the Headmaster who was standing at the door of the faculty lounge. "Severus, if you have a moment, I need to speak with you. And Poppy, I need your help too, if you don't mind."
The Potions Master never got to hear the rest of the story. By the time he finished brewing the special potion the Headmaster asked, the evening's conversation had disappeared completely from his mind.
It was Monday during class that he remembered. Everyone was seated when Professor Snape noticed an empty table in front of the room. Surveying the room, he mentally ticked off names of the students to see who would dare be late for his class. He gave a slight sneer when he found out.
Potter, he thought. Only Potter would have the cheek to be late for his class. But his eyebrow raised a fraction when he saw that Malfoy was also missing. Must be Potter's fault again, he concluded.
Then the door suddenly opened and in came the two, running to the front of the room where the only two remaining seats left were in front of the Potions Master himself. They ducked to avoid the cold gaze.
"Five points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor for being late," said the Potions Master. "I'm disappointed in you Mr. Malfoy. You should have known better than to be late because of the likes of Potter."
The two wisely remained silent as the Potions Master rambled on.
"And as punishment Mr. Malfoy, you shall be assigned as Potter's partner for today's potion. I hope by next meeting you will have learned your lesson on being late. As for the rest of you, pair up."
Snape saw that the two just exchanged raised eyebrows, but not a single cry of protest was heard.
Odd, thought Severus. What was that they were saying about Potter and Malfoy again?
As soon as the Potions Master disappeared in the storeroom, Harry suddenly turned to to Draco. "Malfoy," whispered Harry from the corner of his mouth. "We're being watched."
"Hm?" Draco looked up from stirring the green glob in their cauldron. He quickly surveyed the room looking for the said onlooker. Then he felt something sharp poke on his ribs.
"Stop that!" hissed Harry. "You're too obvious."
Draco quickly turned back to their potion and proceeded to act normally. "What do you mean we're being watched?" he asked.
"Wait here," said Harry. "I'll go see if my hunches are right." With that, Harry went to the back of the room where their friends were making their own potions.
Draco eyes followed Harry as he made his way towards his friends' table and realization hit him, along with a brilliant plan. He shuffled inside his bag and gave a silent "Aha!" when he found the piece of note he was looking for. Scanning the room as if afraid someone might catch him, Draco quickly slipped the letter among Harry's notes.
"Hey 'Mione, hey Ron," he heard Harry say as he casually strolled over to the Gryffindor side of the classroom.
"All right there, Harry?" asked Weasley, and Harry replied with a nod. "Well, at least you know your potion won't be sabotaged by Malfoy this time," continued Weasley wryly.
"Oh, I don't know," said Granger in a suspiciously casual voice. "I think Malfoy's been quiet these past few days, don't you think so Harry?"
"Quiet?" Harry asked. Draco could almost hear the grin in the other boy's voice. "I don't know what you mean, 'Mione."
"Oh nothing, just you know, he seemed a little…nice," she said and Draco noticed the quick flick of Granger's eyes on their table where he sat, supposedly glaring at Potter for leaving him to work on their potion alone.
Weasley sniggered. "Malfoy? Nice! I'd kiss Snape the day Malfoy becomes nice to Harry."
Both Harry and Granger choked back a laugh. The image of Weasley going up to the icy Potions Master and giving him a big kiss was beyond hilarious. Little did he know that he might have to do just that.
"Oh, I don't know Ron," said Granger. "Who knows, maybe Harry and Malfoy might even be friends." The emphasis on the word was impossible to miss.
Draco saw Harry then giving Granger a 'you're really creeping me out' look. "Yeah, whatever you say. I'm just here to check if your potion looked anything like ours." Harry peeked into their cauldron, his movements a bit to exaggerated. "Looks fine enough. I'd better head before Snape deducts any more points from Gryffindor." With that Harry walked back to the front of the room.
"Funny," Draco heard Hermione muttering to herself. "He's paired up with the best Potions student and he comes to us to check if theirs is brewing right."
"So? How'd it go?" Draco muttered under his breath as soon as Harry sat down beside him.
"Definitely a Grapevine spy," said Harry. "You should hear the way she said about you being nice."
"I did," Draco gave a slight chuckle. "By the way, don't shuffle your notes too much. I inserted a letter there while she was looking." And Harry's grin reflected the smirk on Draco's face.
"Harry! Harry!"
The raven haired boy turned to see Hermione waving frantically from the courtyard. She was dragging an annoyed-looking Ron behind her.
"What's going on?" asked Harry.
"Oh, no," groaned Ron. "Don't ask her that. Can you believe this? Now she's the one who's getting us in trouble."
Harry looked confusedly from one friend to another.
"No, don't believe him Harry," she said. "I just wanted to ask if I could borrow your Invisibility Cloak, is all. Only for a few minutes, of course."
"Like we'd let you go there alone," snorted Ron in the background.
"What for?" asked Harry. "And where are you planning to go anyway?"
"Well, you see," started Hermione. "Umm…," there was a pause as she took a breath of air. "Rita Skeeter is trapped in the Potions classroom," she said in a very small voice. "AndIhavetorescueher," came out when she exhaled.
Harry blinked.
"And that's why she can't go alone," said Ron. "Snape would kill her if he saw her sneaking in at night."
"That's why I wanted to borrow the Invisibility Cloak," she shot back.
"WAITAMINUTE!" bellowed Harry, and both friends turned to him from their bickering. "What is that woman doing here? And why do you want to rescue her?"
"Erm…well…you see…"
Had it been possible, Harry would have banged his head repeatedly on the castle walls as Hermione recounted how she saw the nosy journalist in the Potions lab (not telling of course that she and her colleagues are the ones who invited her in in the first place), trapped her in a jar (to safely transport her anywhere), but left the said jar behind in the storeroom (in her haste to go and stalk Malfoy in the halls – it was her turn today).
Draco silently closed the door of the Potions lab. He was supposed to meet Professor Snape there for his extra credit potions report (not that he was sucking up of anything, of course) but when he reached the lab, the Potions Master was nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes of waiting, he gave up and decided to head back out.
As he rounded the corner, he went smack right into a very familiar raven-haired boy and they both toppled to the ground.
"Watch it Potty!"
"You watch it, Malfoy," said Harry rubbing his once again slightly sore behind.
"What are you doing on this side of the castle?" asked Draco.
"You don't wanna know," said Harry and he launched into the story of Rita Skeeter being trapped in the Potions lab—at least the version that Hermione told him.
"And you, being the good Gryffindor decided to go rescue the bug for your friend instead," mocked Draco.
"Beetle," replied Harry. "And no, I'm not trying to rescue that thing for her. I'm rescuing that thing for me! I don't want another page of 'The-story-of-my-life'."
"World still revolving around you, Potter?" sneered Draco. "Lucky for you, I don't want her messing up our deal. Come on, Snape's not around. We can go get her now."
The two made their way back to the Potions lab without much incident and was able to find the jar that contained the journalist.
"Okay I got it," Draco whispered loudly, quickly exiting the storeroom.
"Hurry, he might come back any minute," said the other boy and the two made their way towards the door. Harry was about to turn the knob when he heard a muffled curse.
"Damn!" said Draco from behind him.
"What?" hissed Harry.
"It flew," Draco said, his face going blank.
There was a moment of silence before they exchanged panic stricken looks.
But a small beetle wouldn't compare to a Snitch now would it? The exact same thought crossed their minds as the flittering bug flew by them. And the mad dash across the room began as the two broomless Seekers desperately try to grab the renegade bug.
"Behind you!"
"Grab it!"
"I got it!"
CRASH!
Two bodies lay sprawled on the dungeon floor, one on top of the other, as they quickly enclosed the journalist on a small jar. Draco held the bottle up to a grinning Harry as the beetle tried desperately to escape her glass prison. But their whoops of joy never left their throat as the classroom door burst open.
"POTTER! MALFOY!" bellowed the red faced Potions Master who was seething with anger. "NEVER IN MY YEARS OF TEACHING—"
"Professor, it's not what you think!"
"—SUCH BEHAVIOR CANNOT BE TOLERATED—"
"Shit. Draco, we might may gone a little too far..."
"—IN MY CLASSROOM NO LESS—"
"We're dead."
"—DETENTION!"
The faculty lounge was buzzing with excitement when Severus came in and immediately all eyes turned to him. At that point he couldn't tell which was worse, the cold stares of the Death Eater circle when he returned to the fold after the rise of Voldemort or the burning stares of a group of gossipy teachers.
"So Severus," the Herbology teacher came up to him immediately. "We heard that you gave Potter and Malfoy detention…"
"Yes," replied Severus coolly. "I did."
"And the detention is at midnight?"
"Yes," said the now confused Potions Master and he looked at the entire room full of fellow teachers. "Why do you ask?"
"Why did you give them detention in the first place?" asked Minerva interestedly.
Severus tried to hide his annoyance. "They were dueling in my classroom," he said, exasperation leaking out of his voice. "Tell me, what is the point of all this?"
"Well," started Madam Hooch. "You do know that Potter and Malfoy are umm…a couple?"
It took the Potions Master a full twenty seconds to digest this piece of information.
Potter and Malfoy in my classroom?
Potter and Malfoy in the FLOOR of my classroom?
I gave Potter and Malfoy detention at MIDNIGHT!
The next week, all potions classes were held in a classroom on the other side of the castle. Nobody from the faculty asked why of course, however, Harry and Draco were never paired up in potions again, much to their relief.
Teaser for Next Part:
"I heard that Draco has a thing for Potter since first year."
"Well, I heard Potter blackmailed Draco and that's how it all started."
The portrait hole of the Slytherin Common room opened and in stepped the said Slythierin.
"Well, I heard differently," said Draco wearing a sly smile. "Would you like to know that real story behind it?"