Bound To You

Part 3

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and other miscellaneous big shots I have not taken the time to memorise. I'm honestly not worth suing.

Rating: PG-13 as of yet

Pairing: SS/HP

Summary: A prank results in the bonding of two professors who are notorious for their hate for each other. Could there be any other revenge so sweet? But what happens when the prank backfires?

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Two days later there still wasn't any sign of the people responsible for their predicament. It was all quite perplexing. In a school the size of Hogwarts secrets just weren't kept that way for long. With a staff as powerful as the one currently in place someone should have been able to ferret out the group of adolescent pranksters.

It only succeeded in proving to Severus that he was the only capable member of the Hogwarts staff.

The bond, at least, seemed to be lessening. Albeit at an antagonizingly slow rate. Even that was no little relief, as they'd been able to separate long enough for a few moments without the infernal jolt as the line of magic that connected them pulled taut. It still would have been nice to have a few minutes alone. Having ones former students accompany you to the washroom was not on most people's lists of things they wished would happen.

The fact that it was Potter made things all the more rankling. He'd never liked the man as a student and he had never had much reason to change his opinion of the adult. After spending time with Harry, though, it wasn't so much the man that caused the frustration, as the Potter and what it represented.

Being basically trapped together had gone a long way in forcing an understanding between them. The truce was one of necessity, but that didn't mean there was something to be learned from the situation and despite himself he began to feel regretful of some of his behaviour in the past.

Potter had turned out to be a great deal different than he'd always assumed. He had a decent amount of knowledge in most fields and he seemed to be far from the glory hog. It had become blatantly obvious that he'd never seen Harry Potter, but instead had made up a false version that was a complete echo of the father.

That wasn't to say that Harry didn't have faults. No, the man was still a Gryffindor, retaining many of the ideals and the 'saving people thing' that had always made him famous. He was still impulsive and somewhat brash, but he had ceased seeing the world in solely black and white. Unlike most members of Gryffindor House, he didn't hold any of the nonsense prejudices against Dark spells or the people that studied them so as it no one was likely to be harmed. Also, he was completely equal when doling out punishment to the different houses, which was more than Severus could say for himself.

It was really quite disconcerting that he'd never noticed that trait in Potter before. The man was completely fair when it came down to his students and nearly as strict as Severus himself in a class situation. There had been the odd complaint from his Slytherin's and he'd taken them at face value, assuming that Potter had been punishing his students out of turn. It now seemed rather unlikely. It looked as if his own prejudices had been showing.

For the first time since he had made position as potions professor, Severus was quite content to let the Defense job stay in the hands of the first competent professor the position had seen in decades.

It was a startling realisation.

Beside him, Potter dropped the quill he'd been marking with and fell against the back what had become 'their' couch. "I don't think I can read another essay. Whoever they have teaching the seventh years doesn't know a bloody thing about the subject and it's starting to reflect in their shoddy work."

Severus quirked his eyebrows and replied, "Defence is at least considered interesting. My students are thinking of Potions as a break period."

Harry smirked back. "The joke's on them when you return to classes, eh?"

"As you may recall," the potions master agreed.

"All too well, Professor. I still wake up in a sweat from nightmares, thinking that I'm going to lose Gryffindor points for not studying my potions notes."

"Glad I left an impression."

"I suppose you'll be glad to know I'm not only one still traumatised from your lessons. Ron still shudders whenever he sees a cauldron. He tells his kids stories about you to scare them into submission. Just think of it, in a few more years, you'll have children come through here who've heard the stories from their parents."

It was actually something he didn't want to think of. Wasn't the eldest Weasley's spawn planning on attending next year? That was a dreadful thought. As horrifying as the tales must have been to the brats, Severus found the thought of teaching the next, many time multiplied, generation of Weasley enough to send him into early retirement. With any luck William's wife would finally convince the man to send their children to Beauxbaton.

"I find myself grateful you've never procreated, Potter," he commented dryly. "I find the thought of the next generation of Weasley daunting all on it's own, without the thought of a new Trio."

"You're unlikely to see another Potter come through here," Harry snorted. "I like small children well enough when I can hand them back to mum and dad when the novelty wears off. If there's anything that teaching has taught me, it's that I do not want one of my own."

"I thank you for it. Two Potter' in one life time has been two Potter's too many."

A quiet laugh came from the man beside him. "I'm going to ignore the insult and only because I mostly agree with you." He stretched out, letting quill and parchments fall to the floor. Severus felt a flare of annoyance at the disregard for his personal space, but left it uncommented on.

He started slightly as their outer thighs came into contact for the first time the past few hours. There was a flare of warmth and he relaxed into the contact, feeling strangely comforted by the sudden touch.

Even though they were able to stay separated by a few inches without any discomfort, the bond still seemed to pull them together. There was an odd sense of contentment in sitting together like this and it seemed almost as if Harry belonged. As much as he tried to deny it, he wasn't entirely certain he disliked the sensation.

He'd noticed a yearning for Potter on a sexual level, yes, but he was well capable of ignoring that. It was the emotional side of the bond that was starting to concern him. He hadn't let himself become emotionally involved with another person in such a long time that he was too surprised by the response to ignore it. There was no defence built up to stop the want of more contact such as this.

Surely Lucius had never complained about such problems when he'd been under the influence of the same spell. If it was a normal side effect, Severus was sure he would have remembered having heard something about it from the blonde. True, he'd never been close enough to the older Slytherin to be considered a confidante, but Lucius had been infamously vocal when it came to his discomforts.

What made matters worse, was the fact that the younger man seemed completely oblivious to any of this as he slipped into sleep. He didn't seem to be having the same problems. If these-feelings were just a side effect of the bonding spell, then shouldn't Potter be showing signs of the same?

The possibility that Severus' mind had created the feelings without the aid of the bond was a troubling contemplation. It had, after all, been a long time since he'd shared any form of intimacy with someone. His need for companionship could have easily latched onto Potter as a solution, only to be bolstered by the true effects of the spell. The latest revelations of the younger man's personality had only gone farther in endearing the man to him. Severus could lie to himself all he liked, but he had found the man's intelligence attractive.

It was something he'd been avoiding thinking upon too deeply. The extra consideration was only succeeding in making him all the more alarmed.

A month was far too long a time for him to be stuck with Potter in this state of mind. There had to be something that would stop it.

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It came the next morning in a bout of restlessness. Potter was not easy to get along with when the man was frustrated. The situation went a long way to erasing most of the estimations he'd made of the DADA professor the day before. Being cooped up too long seemed to cause what little logic the man possessed completely leave him.

"I believe we've already had this conversation," he ground out, glaring into fury-bright green eyes. "Neither of us wishes the school population to see us joined at the hip. I would have thought the need to stay away from prying eyes would have been enough to clear your processing skills."

Harry glared back as he seemed to fight the impulse to reach across the small gap that separated them to wring the potion's master's neck. "I need to get out of here. I can't stay in this room any more. There has to be somewhere we can go without anyone seeing us."

"As large as this castle may seem, the likelihood of finding such a place is slim, unless you wish to wait until long after curfew. Even then we have those who completely disregard the rules and wander the halls at night."

"I don't think I care about being seen anymore," the man was agitated, looking around the room like a mad man… or someone who had been imprisoned and was determinedly searching for an escape.

On a certain level Severus could empathise, but couldn't quite comprehend such a volatile reaction. Potter seemed at his wit's end, desperation winning out over all other attempts to treat the situation with the logic that seemed so obvious. Severus was a man used to seclusion and silence. The other man's presence was sometimes stifling, as conflicted as he was with churning emotions. Still, he hadn't gone quite mad and demanded that they leave the dungeons right. this. minute!

He found it annoying and had tried to calm the man before he did something incredibly stupid, like trying to force them both into the floo at the same time. Oh, yes, that was likely to be a painful death. There was a reason why, after a certain size, wizarding children were taught how to use the floo network on their own. Potter seemed just mad enough to try it, though.

Severus had begun to contemplate forcing a sedative down the glaring man's throat when a firm hand grasped one of his arms and was pulling him towards the door. For a brief moment he was relieved no note it was in the opposite direction of the fireplace before he realised what going outside would entail.

Dozens of gawking, acne infested brats all waiting for a piece of what was happening with their two least favourite professors.

Wonderful.

-- To Be Continues --

Shade: I must've written this chapter about three times in the past month. I'm not so sure that I don't want to restart it again, but I figure three times is enough and I'm sure there are plenty of people waiting to see what's going to happen next. So… Should be better with getting out the next chapter if I don't find myself pulled towards the playstation yet again. One should be glad they haven't come out with the next final fantasy game meant for a console yet..