Disclaimer: I disclaim this. No own. Booyah!

SLYTHERIN BOY

Chapter Fourteen: Blushing at Breakfast

Harry had been awake when Ron returned. He heard the boy arrive in the dorm, with a breathless and upset air. He pushed aside his bed curtains and looked at Ron as he changed into his pajamas.

"Are you alright, Ron? What happened?" Harry asked.

"I… fuck," Ron shook his head. He still looked shaken.

"Jesus, you look as though you've seen a ghost, Ron," Harry didn't really think of the fact that they saw ghosts on a regular basis. "What did he do to you?"

Ron gave him a bewildered look. "Nothing!" His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Look, Harry, nothing happened. I fixed it s best I could. I made a kind of truce with him and I said maybe he could eat with us tomorrow to make Hermione feel better. I mean if we get along with him, it'll all work out perfectly, right? That's what I was thinking," Ron shook his head. "But I… now, I don't know if he will, he seemed all right at first, but now," Ron brought a shaky hand up to his mouth. His fingers trembled against his lips.

"So something did happen," Harry was confused.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, Harry. It was my fault, I didn't mean to… but I just… you know…" Ron trailed off.

Harry frowned slightly.

"I just need to think for awhile, Harry. It's okay." He said. Harry felt uneasy at his friend's discomfort, but decided to leave well enough alone.

****

Severus stared at his ceiling. It had certainly not been the right thing to do, kissing the Weasley boy. He hadn't even known he was going to do it until his mouth made contact. He frowned to himself, his index finger rubbing along his bottom lip. He could still feel Ron's mouth.

He couldn't think of a more intense kiss he'd ever had. It just seemed so abrupt, without warning. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he had a soft spot for redheads, he'd always though red hair was an unusually attractive trait, but he'd never really considered Ron. Maybe it was because he remembered him as a student.

Severus cursed himself silently. "He's still a student, you old fool," he said roughly to himself. "Fifteen fucking years old, he's a fucking baby, why, gods," Severus shook his head. It seemed that his body, being fifteen years old, found nothing wrong with the idea of sexual contact with another fifteen-year-old. No matter what his mind said about the matter. And it seemed to him that his older, wiser mind was becoming less and less prominent as he was encompassed with the true youth of his situation.

"Oh, fuck it," he said He flicked at an un-smoked cigarette on his bedside table. He'd grabbed the pack when Ron had left and proceeded to hack and cough for nearly ten minutes after trying to smoke one. He remembered that he didn't start smoking until just after university, and his child-body didn't have that wonderfully protective coat of tar on his throat to make it possible for him to smoke.

Unfortunate how badly he was craving a cigarette. He knew that the addictiveness of the nicotine was not in effect, again due to his body change, but he also had something of a mental attachment to the harmless looking things. He longed for the tingling relaxation he'd have once gotten from smoking one. Frowning, he flicked the cigarette away.

"Probably for the best," he said. "They do cause lung cancer, after all,"

He stood up and walked into his sitting room. He wasn't sure if he was going to go ahead and eat with the three Gryffindors. As it was, there were only four hours until breakfast would start, and he knew he wouldn't be sleeping at all that night. He imagined Ron and Harry and Hermione would have been asleep for hours and hours already.

Damn his internal struggles. "I should just obliviate myself into thinking I really am fifteen again. It would just make things so much easier." He said, though not actually serious about obliviating himself. Obliviate was dangerous, even for illegal curses.

He walked around his quarters, hands pushed firmly into his dressing gown, his white, pinstriped pajamas peeking out from beneath the heavy black material. He wandered over to the piano, striking a few keys on it absently. He'd been so pleased when Albus had agreed to let him keep it in the guest rooms. He'd had it moved up from his old quarters immediately. The idea of that disgusting bitch Lila touching the beautiful instrument made him feel ill.

He was aware, however, that any late-night piano in the dark would result in McGonagall yelling at him. Damn her for being in the rooms next to his, he was never allowed to do anything fun. He smirked at the childishness of his previous thought, before slumping into the window-seat. He leaned his head against the cold glass and thought about the mess he'd made of things.

"Damn hormones."

****

The next morning, he looked a mess. After he'd come out of the shower, he'd dried the cheek-length hair, cursing about how fast it always seemed to grow. He parted it, slightly to the side. He frowned at how limp his hair always was, and wondered how Ron could have possibly seen him as attractive.

He walked to his wardrobe and put on a pair of dark jeans and a simple completely black, long-sleeved t-shirt. He vaguely recognized it as his body being parallel with the approximate time he'd stopped wearing such flashy clothing.

"Must be some sort of psychological development," he said. "Apparently taste depends on the age,"

He thought for a moment, before grabbing a simple but strangely elegant all-black robe. He pulled it on; he'd always liked the way robes had fit. They were comfortable but elegant. He smiled at his dark appearance. Looked like soon he'd be wearing all black again. He smoothed his hair out again, before adjusting the collar of the robes and leaving the room. The dark circles under his eyes were blatant evidence of his sleepless night. He'd been right to know he wouldn't be sleeping at all that night. In the end, he'd taken out a book of crossword puzzles and wasting his time on them. He'd never had much of a passion for crossword puzzles, but people always seemed to get him crossword books for Christmas and birthdays and whatnot. So he had an over-abundance of them, and with nothing else to do, he'd gone ahead and completed an entire book.

He took a deep breath. In the end he had decided to go ahead and sit with the infamous Gryffindor trio, though he was sure Ron wouldn't want him to now. After what had happened.

He walked slowly, thoughtfully. He appeared in the Great Hall. It seemed that most everyone was already there. He walked carefully towards the Gryffindor table, aware that people were staring at him. Ron looked up, his face burning a little bit red when he saw Severus. The other boy's embarrassment set of a feeling in Severus's ears that he knew was the damnable blush.

He also noticed that Ron didn't look like he'd gotten much sleep, either. He was a little pale and there were circles under his eyes. Severus sniffed slightly, self consciously, before he ambled over to where they were sitting. He stood awkwardly for a moment, before pulling out an empty chair and seating himself next to Hermione. Unfortunately, he was now sitting directly across from Ron. He could feel the boys legs brushing against his, them both being so long-legged. He rubbed his ears as he felt them blushing again.

"Damned," he muttered to himself.

Hermione, however, looked so happy and pleased that he couldn't bring himself to leave. He cursed at the manipulation she was unaware she had on him, before he looked at what was on the table. He made no move to reach for anything. He wasn't feeling particularly hungry.

For food, that is, his mind whispered wickedly. Dirty images involving a certain redhead flooded his mind, and he felt himself blushing again. "Christ," he said aloud.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Oh! Nothing," he blinked. "I'm just a bit tired, is all,"

He noticed that Harry kept looking back and forth from him to Ron, although the two of them were trying very hard not to look at each other.

"Well, have some food, it should wake you up,"

Severus looked again at the food laid before them. He reached for a sort of muffin that was sitting on a plate. He examined it carefully.

"Do you think this has nuts in it?" He said vaguely.

"Yeah, I just had one of those," Harry said.

"Mm," Severus frowned.

"Don't you like nuts?" Ron asked.

Severus felt his ears burning at hearing the other boy's voice. Why did he feel so damned awkward?

"I'm allergic to them," he said.

"Really? What happens if you eat them?" Harry asked, conversationally.

"I die." Severus said simply.

"Wow," Harry said. "That's kind of scary."

"I'm used to it. I'm allergic to fucking everything," Severus shook his head. "I not supposed to eat any of these things, really," he looked at the food before him. "Actually, I could have one of those oranges," he said. He reached over and grabbed one.

"What all are you allergic to?" Hermione asked, curious.

"I'm allergic to so much, it isn't even funny," he scowled.

"Well, like what?" Harry asked. Ron had gone quiet again, and was simply looking at Severus shyly.

"Well, like Milk, and eggs, strawberries… soy and shellfish, and nuts, of course… there are some spices that I'm allergic to, like basil… cinnamon," he shrugged. "I'm also allergic to bees and wasps and the likes of them. Not that I eat them, if I get stung," he said.

"Heh," Harry said.

"So if you get stung by a bee, do you, like swell up?" he asked.

"Well, yeah. I have about a minute before I die." He shrugged. "I mean I'm really allergic to them." He reached into his bag and pulled out a small pen-like device. He pulled the cap off, showing them that down inside was a wicked, sharp-looking metal thing. "If I get stung, I have to stab myself with this. It will keep me from having an allergic reaction. It lasts for about twenty minutes so I can get to a hospital or a doctor or something," he capped it and put it back in his bag. "I've only had to use it once," he said.

"Wow, you are allergic to everything." Ron smirked.

"Well, I had to learn how to cook, because I could never eat anything that was prepared for me," he said.

"You can cook?" Harry seemed to be being overly pleasant. Severus felt slightly suspicious.

"Not very well. But enough, I suppose." He said.

"Well, then." Harry said.

There was an awkward silence. Severus moved his leg, accidentally brushing against Ron's in a seemingly insistent way. Ron and Severus both blushed quite obviously at the exact same time.

"Okay, what the hell is up with you two?" Hermione asked. They looked at her.

"Why, what do you mean?" Severus said, flatly and unconvincingly.

"You keep blushing at each other! What the heck?" she seemed puzzled. Severus clapped his hands over his ears, feeling them blushing even redder. Ron looked away, and Severus noticed that the blush went down his neck and disappeared into his shirt collar. He felt himself wondering how far it went.

"Arrrgh," he said clasping his hands together on the back of his neck and letting his head thump against the table. He sat back up after a breath.

"What's going on, seriously," Harry said. "What happened with you two last night?" he narrowed his eyes at Ron and Severus.

"Nothing!" Ron and Severus said together.

"Wait, what? Last night?" Hermione said in puzzlement.

"Ron went to see Severus last night," Harry explained.

"No! I just went to talk to him!" Ron said.

"And talk you did," Severus hissed at Ron. "It was all your fault you know, if you hadn't…"

"Hey I didn't do anything!" Ron said. "You're the one who..!"

"Wait, Ron went to talk to Severus?" Hermione said. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Well why else do you think Severus sat with us? Ron decided that if we could all get along it would just be that much easier for you,"

"Well, but you're the one who kept saying all those things, about my eyes and my mouth and everything," Severus was saying to Ron.

"You're the one who kissed me!" Ron snapped, his face flushed.

Suddenly, everyone went dead silent. Hermione and Harry looked too stunned for words. Severus was looking at Ron with a look that was something of a mixture of hurt and anger. He felt his ears burning again. He was sure they were practically glowing.

He was aware of other people at the table who hadn't been involved in the conversation staring at him. They all seemed to have heard Ron's outburst, and were staring in shock.

"Wait, Severus, you…" Hermione started.

Severus gave an upset breath, pushing his chair away and storming out of the dining hall.

"Ron?" Hermione looked at the red haired boy, who was biting his lip. He looked at Harry and Hermione's confused but expectant faces.

"I'm gay." He said simply, before standing up and walking in the direction Severus had gone. They stared stupidly at where Ron and Severus had just been.

"Damn," Harry said. "I knew I should have gone with him."

****