Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. I'll give them back to JK Rowling when I'm done. No money was made from this endeavor.
Feedback: Please read and review, flames are not welcome.
A/N: Thanks go, once more, to Sherdelune, my beta, for her patience and encouragement. Any errors still remaining would be mine. I want to apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. I had it written, but didn't find the time to get it typed up. Hope you enjoy it.
Warning: Some OotP spoilers.

Anything between two *, denotes a thought.

Wanted: Single, Older Male for a Roommate
Chapter 10: House Hunting, Furniture Buying and Careers

Harry and Severus met with the current owners of Pemican House -- a young couple with several children who were looking for a larger house -- as soon as they arrived. They showed the two men around, giving them additional information about each room as they went.

The three bedrooms located on the first floor had been magically altered to be roomier than the originals had been designed. Two bathrooms, one to the master suite, the other to be shared by the other two rooms, were also on that floor. There was an attic above, which they briefly perused.

The ground floor had a kitchen, dining area and a family room, all of which were open to one another and therefore giving an open and airy feel. The family room had a large bay window facing out to the ocean. Harry truly admired the view, having never been anywhere near the shore in his 17 years. Severus admired it as well, but mentioned in a quiet aside to Harry that the sea air would affect his potions.

Hary noted that and questioned, "Can you not spell the air to withdraw the salt and excess moisture?"

Severus nodded, "Yes, I could, but that would mean it would have to be done on a daily basis, which is truly a time consuming endeavor."

Harry frowned but nodded in understanding. They thanked the couple and flooed back to Hogwarts.

Harry and Severus sat down briefly in Dumbledore's office to discuss the next two houses in greater detail, so that Severus would be better prepared in discerning what would suit his needs for making potions. During the talk, they had a quick snack of scones and tea before journeying on to their next location.

The next house, called Journeyman's End, was located near a small muggle village. The house itself was out in the open with no shade, no visible water source, and only a small garden. Inside the house, there was a basement in which Severus could work, but he mentioned in passing to Harry that he was hoping for something a little larger.

*Well, zero for two so far.* Harry frowned and hoped that the saying 'third times the charm' applied to their case, as he really didn't want to start over in his search.

They traveled back once more to Hogwarts and this time the Headmaster was waiting for them.

"Ah, Harry and Severus, how have things gone so far this morning?" asked the old wizard.

"Not so good, Professor. The first place was nice, but ..." Harry paused and shifted a bit. Harry realized that he couldn't mention Severus not liking the two places as no one but Hermione and Ron knew about the new living arrangement.

"But? So, what exactly was wrong with it?" inquired Dumbledore.

"It was near the ocean. The second house was too out in the open, with no trees for shade and no pond or lake nearby," Harry paused for a few seconds and then continued on, "I'm hoping this last house fits the bill. I don't look forward to starting over."

"Indeed, house hunting can be frustrating. I'm sure this last house will suit all of your *yours and Severus'* needs." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled intensely as he took in the two men standing in front of the fire.

Severus watched Albus closely and heard the words he said quite clearly. He heard how Albus stressed the word 'your' as in the plural your, not singular and how his eyes were bright with hidden laughter.

*Well, damn. The old man knows Harry and I will be living together. That's why he asked me to go along. Can I not get one thing over on him?* Severus sighed quietly and shot Albus a disgruntled look. He turned to Harry and pulled him briefly closer.

Severus leaned down and whispered quietly, "the Headmaster knows," into Harry's ear, his silky, smooth-as-velvet voice causing Harry to shiver as the air from the words caressed his skin.

Severus was surprised to see Harry's shiver and seeing that lithe, attractive body move in such a way made him internally quiver as images of them together played in his mind. He saw himself touching and caressing the young man, and seeing him shiver once more but this time with longing. He was surprised at such thoughts appearing in the middle of the day, in front of Dumbledore no less. He tossed those thoughts off quickly, for he knew something like that would never happen, and reasoned that Harry shivered because the young man was troubled with the thought of Dumbledore knowing something so private. For once, he felt his usual mask slip, and that his face showed some of his shock and surprise at his internal thoughts, and hoped that it would be intrepeted as being upset with Dumbledore knowing of their private arrangement. He quickly recovered his mask of indifference.

Harry turned his head and lifted an eyebrow in question as if asking, 'How?'. Severus smirked at the younger man's expression. He sighed once more and shook his head indicating he had no idea. Harry looked at Dumbledore with a bemused expression.

Harry turned back to Severus and looked at him again, silently questioning, 'Are you sure?'. Severus rolled his eyes at Harry and shook his head in the affirmative.

Harry muttered under his breath, "Well, damn."

Severus, of course heard this and just chuckled, which turned into an outright laugh. Harry looked at Severus first in amazement to hear such a sound coming from his Potions professor and then in concern, thinking his friend might have a few screws loose.

"Um, Severus, are you alright?" Harry leaned over and placed a tentative, comforting hand on the other man's shoulder.

While this exchange was going on, Dumbledore watched the two in question closely. He truly wanted to chuckle out loud at the fairly silent conversation the two were carrying on. *Ah, they do fit so well together. They understand each other, even without the use of words and neither of them realize that they are doing it. I hope that they realize how they feel about each other sometime soon, they can't keep denying their feelings for too much longer.*

Severus' laugh slowly tapered off and he looked into Harry's concerned eyes. Severus smiled reassuringly and nodded his head. Severus actually felt quite good, for the laughter had seemed to loosen something inside of him.

Severus looked at the Headmaster and asked, "How long have you known and how did you find out?"

The Headmaster had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed and ashamed. He signed and went to sit down behind his desk. "I've known since the potions incident two weeks ago."

Severus snorted and then sneered briefly at Dumbledore. "So you did ask more than those two, obviously misleading questions. I thought you had, but I knew if I called you on it, you would have simply evaded me. What else do you know?"

Severus thought quickly as soon as the question left his mouth and decided that perhaps Albus had learned far more from him and his subconscious than he was prepared for Harry to know. "Nevermind, Albus."

Severus sighed again, then said, "I have a fair idea of what you might have learned." Severus gave Dumbledore a harsh glare, daring the older wizard to smile at him or twinkle his damnable, all-knowing eyes his way. "No wonder you weren't surprised by my resignation."

Harry looked back and forth between the two professors. He shrugged to himself, *I'll figure those two out someday.*

"We should get going and see the third house before lunch," said Harry to Severus, who nodded.

Harry threw some Floo powder into the fire and called out, "Stone Mason Place," and disappeared into the fire. Severus followed a few seconds afterwards.

They appeared in the living room and were greeted by no one. The owner had passed away recently with no immediate family to lay claim to the house, so the house was placed for sale by the Ministry. Harry and Severus toured the house from top to bottom and found that perhaps third time was the charm after all. The basement was adequate for Severus' needs, there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the kitchen and living room were spacious, and a small study was found tucked away under the stairs.

Harry found that the conditions outdoors were perfect as well. To Harry, the house may not have been as large as The Burrow, but it still felt like home.

Severus agreed with Harry, so they flooed back to Hogwarts and Harry sent off an owl to the Ministry to let them know know he would take Stone Mason Place.

They had arrived back in time to have lunch down in the Great Hall, so they left the Headmaster's office and walked in companiable silence the entire way. Harry shared the news with Hermione and Ron, that he had found his new home. He promised them more details later, as soon as the transaction for the sale of the house was completed.

...

Because of who Harry was and the people he happened to know at the Ministry (Arthur had pulled a few strings), he did not have long to wait to hear back from them, confirming the sale of the house. They had even reduced the cost of the house by a significant number of galleons, which greatly pleased Harry. He was not ashamed in the least to take advantage of his status as the "Boy-Who-Lived", in this case.

So with those extra galleons now at his disposal, he decided to drag Severus off to Diagon Alley to do some shopping for furniture. From the Headmaster's office, they flooed to The Leaky Cauldron, and from their they made their way to a shoppe called 'Handcrafted Pieces', which sold antique furnishings.

Harry reviewed the contents of the house, which already came fairly well furnished. The master bedroom had a lovely four poster, king-sized canopy bed, but he would need a new feather mattress, and a small wardrobe had been on the opposite wall. Perhaps he would purchase a chest of drawers to complement the two pieces of furniture. He knew he would be purchasing new clothes in the near future, now that he was no longer going back to the Dursley's.

The other bedrooms had been bare, so they would need to completely outfit the other two rooms, one for Severus and one for potential guests.

He also remembered that he had seen no mirrors in the entire place, when he recalled the bit of history Arthur had given him about the place. Apparently the sole occupant of the house had broken a mirror and suffered from 7 years bad luck. The old man had sold off the rest of his mirrors in the hope of not compounding his bad luck and on the last day of the 7 year streak, the old man had died. What might have been an old wive's tale in the Muggle world was in fact a truth in the Wizarding world, as the mirrors were enchanted.

*Hmm, perhaps I should visit a Muggle shopping outlet to purchase mirrors for our place. I don't think either Severus or I need an enchanted mirror to go breaking as I've already suffered through 7 years of bad luck with having had Voldemort breathing down my neck, and Severus at most 21 years with being a Death Eater.*

Harry walked into Handcrafted Pieces with a purpose, while Severus lagged several steps behind, not liking the idea of shopping for something that wasn't potions ingredients.

Harry turned to Severus, "Do you not want some say in what bed you'll be sleeping in from now on?" *I wouldn't mind your saying you'd like to sleep in mine; that bed would fit the two of us quite well.* Harry quietly sighed at knowing that would probably never happen.

Severus paused in mid-stride at Harry's words, and thought to himself, *I wouldn't mind sharing yours. That bed was absolutely sinful and made for fun.* Severus blinked rapidly at the image those words conveyed to him. He shook his head to clear his mind, before following Harry once more.

*This is going to be harder than I thought. I really need to get myself under control. I can't keep thinking of myself and Harry in such intimate detail. We're just friends.* Severus had to remind himself once more.

"Of course I want to pick out my own bedroom suite. Perferrably something similiar to what Hogwart's has provided me with all these years. It's what I would be most comfortable with." Severus decided he would have pay more attention to what was available, if that were the case.

"Okay, while you look, you can tell me about my career choices. You'd mentioned that you have a few possibilities for me."

Severus looked away briefly from the available bed frames the store had to offer and towards Harry and frowned a bit as if not following the conversation and then nodded as the words Harry spoke penetrated.

"There are three possible jobs that you might consider. The first is as a medi-wizard. It would take considerable knowledge, skill and physical stamina to handle such a position. You could specialize in a certain field, that would be your choice of course." Severus paused to allow time for this to sink in with Harry, and he continued looking at each bedframe in closer detail. He skipped past the smaller beds and moved to the full-sized ones. Each bed had a sample mattress, but he was hesitant to try them out, for fear of looking silly. Harry noticed this and tsked at him.

"Honestly Severus, I think you need to lay down on them to make sure you not only feel comfortable on the mattress, but also to see if you would enjoy a four poster or not."

Severus frowned at Harry, but nodded that the young wizard was right. So he hesitantly laid down on one of the bare beds and used his arms for pillows. The sight before Harry was very drool worthy. He imagined Severus laying down with next to nothing on and beckoning for Harry to join him in that wonderfully large bed that was now his. Harry's breathing rapidly increased, and he shifted uncomfortably as he realized something below the belt was also rapidly increasing in size.

*I must not let Severus see my condition, that would be thoroughly embarrassing.* Harry walked away as if to look at some other pieces of furniture so he could conceal his visible interest in the other other wizard. As he walked to the back of the store, a sales clerk finally appeared.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" asked the clerk.

"We're just looking for the moment, but I think we'll be needing your services in a little while," answered Harry.

"Certainly, certainly. No rush, take all the time your need. My name is Morrison, just yell out for me when you're ready."

Harry nodded as the person retreated back to the rear of the store, then he walked back to Severus, who was testing out another bed. Harry purposefully averted his eyes, so as not to take in the suggestive image before him.

"Okay, so what are the other two choices you think I would find favourable?"

"The second would be as a flying broom maker and tester. You would have to know charms, potions, and other skills like aerodynamics, physics, etcetera. Then you would have to test out your products. In this you could definitely capitalize on your fame, if you were so inclined."

Harry nodded at the truth to those words. "And the last?"

"The last is a bit frivolous, but it would put one of your rarer talents to good use. You could be a snake breeder. You could travel the globe and procure rare and exotic snakes for sale. The venom, skin, and other parts of rare snakes would be very useful in potions making. You could even 'rent out' your snakes for pest control." At this last job opportunity, Severus quirked his lips in a amusement, for this last one would certainly benefit him greatly.

"They all sound great. I'll definitely be giving it some thought over the next two weeks. There's no great rush. I want to take this summer and maybe spend it sprucing up the house and working in the garden. Sliver would definitely love that garden." *And so would a little scottish terrier named Mac.* Harry hid his smile at the thought of changing into his animagus form and romping through the woods and fields around his new home.

"Agreed. I think I will also take some much needed rest this summer and vacation for a while. As much as I am itching to get the new potions shoppe up and running, I should recharge a bit before I do." Severus got up from that bed and moved to another to test it out.

As soon as he laid down in this last one, he knew he had found the one he wanted. The mattress was perfect and so where the carvings on the four poster canopy bed. He envisioned jewel toned draperies keeping out the cold night air come winter.

"I believe we have a winner, Harry. I think this is the one we should purchase for my room."

"Great, do you recommend any of the other's for the spare bedroom?" asked Harry.

"That first one I tried was nice, the mattress would handle well enough for the average person, not too firm or too soft. It's not a four poster canopy, but it should serve for guests."

"Alright then. Now to find a new mattress for my bed. Why don't you let the clerk know which beds we'll take and then find a wardrobe or two for yourself and the guest bedroom."

Severus thought this was a fine idea, as he didn't want to see Harry laying down on those large mattresses. They would just fuel his imagination further. So he found the clerk and told him what beds they wanted and then went off in search of two new wardrobes.

Harry tested out several mattresses until he found the right one. Not realizing that he found the same style as Severus only in a larger size. Severus found the remaining furnishings that would go into the rest of the house.

By the end of the afternoon, they had made arrangements for the furniture to be delivered to Stone Mason Place in two weeks time, so that they would be there to help the movers place the pieces they had purchased. Harry was too tired to do much else, and Severus looked a bit worn around the edges as well what with all the flooing and hunting they had done.

They arrived back in the Headmaster's office, to be greeted once more by the Headmaster, and he escorted them down to the Great Hall for dinner.

~tbc~