Chapter 11: Just Good for Gossip
by ataraxis

Harry sat back and crossed his arms as if to ward himself against the questions. He knew he was capable of passing off his lies as truth, but Severus Snape was a good man who didn't deserve them. But he answered the questions as honestly as he could, being Emma. She blathered on about how Harry asked that she never mention knowing him, for her sake and his.

After that one question was answered, more were asked. Severus wanted to know all about Harry Potter and what he had been up to in the last few years. Again he had to lie and this time outright. His life as a secret agent was known to so few; many would say he was an Unspeakable, but that wasn't quiet the truth, as many people spoke of him in whispers, but never to be associated with the name Harry Potter.

By the end of the evening, Harry almost felt a sense of detachment. Emma had been literally raked over the coals in Severus' attempt to gain knowledge about the elusive Harry Potter. Why was the Potions Master showing such interest in a man that Harry had assumed was loathed and detested? Harry, as Emma, was almost feeling slightly affronted. Now that Emma was known to be friends with the famous Boy-Who-Lived, was that all she would be good for, was gossip?

Emma left Severus' chambers almost in a huff, wanting to slam the door in the man's face as he showed her out, but couldn't because the man honestly looked happy and pleased with himself. Not pleased as if in a smirking, self-satisfied way, but with a contented happiness. It was a sight Harry had never seen, and one that Emma had been shown on perhaps a singular occasion.

Emma stalked down the corridors in a rare, irritated mood and the few students who still loitered in the hallways steered clear, as they were all too used to that same expression being seen on the Potions Master face, and it was always accompanied by several house points being taken with no just cause. Emma entered into her chambers and did slam that door just to physically vent.

Harry was not sure what to make of Severus' interest in himself, but it made him wary and just a little pleased. Perhaps they could be friends after Emma's position as teacher at Hogwarts was over, and maybe once Harry himself came to join the Hogwarts staff. Which reminded Harry that he needed to speak with Albus about a change in career.

- - - hpsshpsshpsshpss - - -

Severus watched with interest as 'Emma' left in a huff. His plan had just started and already it was working. He would make 'Emma' totally distraught over Severus' interest in Harry and using her for as an outlet for gossip. But if there was one thing he could be honest about was that his interest was not feigned.

In his earlier years after he initially joined the Death Eaters, he had lied to himself to make the situation bearable. Once he had stopped lying to himself, he vowed to never let blinders fall over his eyes again. Therefore, he would not allow ignorance to play a role anymore in getting to know Harry Potter, the real Harry, or as real as Harry could be posing as Emma Malsby. He had let ignorance of the young Harry Potter, and his hatred of James Potter to influence and cloud his decisions previously. No longer would that be the case.

He would have spotted insincerity a yard away, and in Emma he had detected none of that. Emma had always been sincere and open, at least when it didn't concern herself personally. Her interest in his work, in the journals he read, and the discussions they had over them had always been forthright and genuine. Now that he realized Harry and Emma were one in the same, he was greatly pleased that Mr. Potter had continued his education, even after leaving Hogwarts and that their interests matched so well.

Severus blushed as he thought again at how well he thought they were matched, both in mind and in body. He felt his body stir as the image from the night before played behind his closed eyelids. The lower half of Harry bent over the bathtub with his nicely rounded arse stretched taut and bits dangling, looking flush from the bath and coated with suds. Suds that he wanted to let his fingers slide through, allowing his skin to skate easily over the surface of the other man's. Never before had another man enticed him so. He had been attracted to the younger Harry, but it had not been this keen and staggering. It had always been something on the periphery of his mind, something he could shove into a small cubby hole to be ignored.

Well it would be ignored no longer. The sight of Harry from his later visit that same evening, with the smooth chest bare and golden, the dusky rose coloured nipples that had hardened -- from what Severus had assumed was the cold, but now that he reflected on the situation, Emma's chambers had not been cool at all -- flitted through his mind. Severus grinned in appreciation at the image. Perhaps the attraction wasn't as one-sided as it seemed.

Severus smirked as he reached down to shift himself to a more comfortable position, and planned how to take his revenge in a direction guaranteed to not just make Emma trip up, but to trip right into his arms. Severus took that vivid image to bed with him and slept soundly that night.

A/N: I am glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the story. This chapter goes un-beta'd at this time.