Title: The Love Potion
Author: Sprinkles
Rating: PG-13 just to be sure…
Archive: Sure, just ask me first.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry or Snape or anyone else from the Potter-verse. They either own themselves or belong to JKR
Summary: Harry comes to Snape and confesses to being in love with him. Snape in turn believes that Harry is under the influence of a love potion and attempts to identify and cure it.
If either Snape or Harry thought that anything exciting would happen that day, both were mistaken. Harry, occasionally found staring at Snape across the room, scrubbed his cauldrons, and Snape, occasionally found darting glances at Harry, prepared his ingredients for that day's potion-test. Without a word. Ever.
Additionally, the test was always negative.
Harry, normally exhausted from all the scrubbing, had stopped having any dreams about Snape. His theory was that the dreams seemed to be triggered by Snape saying 'presumptuous brat' – but he didn't know if it was the phrase, or the voice itself that set him off. So, he went through the days staring at Snape just to see if he could make Snape insult him – anything to hear that deep, sexy purr.
Snape, for his part, after several arguments with himself, finally admitted that Harry Potter was not as bad an addition to his office as he had originally thought. One might even say he was…pleasant – when he was quiet, of course. He even grudgingly admitted that his cauldrons had probably never been so clean - not even when he had first bought them.
This routine continued for about three weeks before a remarkable thing happened to change it. It was on the twenty-first day of scrubbing that, actually, two remarkable things happened.
The first occurred when Harry came to Snape's door about half an hour early - at precisely six-thirty in the morning. The door took a little bit longer to open considering Snape, not expecting him, had had to cross from his bedroom.
The door flew open, as per usual, and he 'imposingly glared' down his nose at Harry (again, as per usual). He was not wholly surprised at the identity of his visitor because he knew that Harry Potter was the only one who would dare to wake him this early in the morning. Gryffindor courage, indeed.
"Mr. Potter. The crack of dawn may not be early enough for you, but, believe it or not, the rest of humanity actually likes to sleep in a little."
Harry smiled slightly (he had stopped going into cardiac arrest at the sight of Snape in a dressing gown a while ago and was content now to simply admire in a more subtle manner). "I'm sorry to disturb your beauty rest, sir – " Snape glared at him even more fiercely, " – and I know you don't normally eat this early in the morning…but I was wondering if you would like some breakfast."
Whatever sneering comment Snape had been about to say completely died on his lips as he blinked in surprise. Potter was offering to get him breakfast? That was actually – Snape winced as his brain spat the word out – thoughtful of him. Snape stared in shock. Two weeks ago, Snape wouldn't have accused Potter of having a thought in his head, and now he had just deemed Potter thoughtful? Dear God in heaven…He paused a moment longer considering his answer.
Harry had to roll his eyes at the pained look on Snape's face – it was the same look that Snape had had when Hermione had made a potion flawlessly and he was forced to give her a good grade.
Time to hurry things up a bit.
Harry attempted his own sarcastic tone: "While there's still time to get it, of course."
Snape lifted an eyebrow. This boy has been spending entirely far too much with me…
"Very well, Potter. You may bring me a cup of black coffee and a croissant."
"What? No fried eggs on fried bread with bacon, sausage and fried tomatoes?"
"Mr. Potter, thus far, I have managed to survive this God-forsaken war, the wrath of the Dark Lord, and the unsubtle eccentricities of the Headmaster – all inflicted upon my person in the same span of time. I do not intend to kill myself by means of high cholesterol."
Harry's eyes widened. Humor. From Snape. And he's not insulting me. Or teasing me. Oh my God. Realizing he was staring, he snapped himself out of his trance and turned around to run up to the kitchens.
"And Potter?" Harry turned around and Snape took a deep breath and appeared to firm his resolve.
"Thank you,…" Another pause. "…impertinent brat."
Harry ran off feeling the familiar shiver run down his spine.
Oh yeah, it's definitely the voice.
It was around nine o' clock that night when the second remarkable thing happened:
Snape was preparing to test Harry's blood, when his normally emotionless thoughts turned to the memory of Harry asking him if he wanted breakfast.
Snape frowned, replaying it in his mind. Offering me breakfast? Is he mad? Perhaps this Love-Potion is stronger than I had originally thought…
He ladled out a cupful.
But it was rather…considerate…of the boy…
And as Severus Snape added the drop of blood to the test-potion something happened that had never happened before:
Somewhere in the back of his mind, well hidden from his conscious, the little voice that had sneered at him all those days ago began to whisper very quietly: Please, let it be negative. Please, let it be negative. Please –
Green. Negative.
And even though he had not heard the voice, and, indeed, did not truly even acknowledge its existence, Severus Snape let out a sigh that could only have been relief.
From that day forward, unnoticed by both Harry and Snape, they suddenly began to speak to each other. Harry would stop his scrubbing and ask Snape about his research and Snape would stop chopping and answer him. Sometimes they stopped for several minutes and actually had a conversation.
This was their new routine: Every day, Harry would bring Snape a croissant and black coffee at exactly seven o'clock ("If you wake me up before that time, Mr. Potter, I can not be held accountable for my actions.") and scrub/chop/talk until noon. They would both take an hour for lunch in the Great Hall and return again at one to scrub/chop/talk until five or so.
At five o'clock, Harry would dry his last cauldron and put them all back in their rightful places. Then they would talk as Harry grabbed his robes and headed to the door, sometimes forgetting that he was supposed to be leaving, and they would continue for sometimes as long as half an hour. Then Harry would leave, take a walk around the grounds and go to bed early to make his dreams of Snape last as long as possible. Snape, in turn, would go on to complete his test potion as the quiet voice whispered its prayer in the back of his mind, every night. The test would come out negative, and Snape would sigh in relief. Every single night.
"It's true: your righteous anger wouldn't have hurt her for long. You see, Potter, – "
"Wait a second, Professor." They had been talking for some length of time about the use and delivery of the Unforgivable Curses and Snape, slightly annoyed at being interrupted, looked over at him. "Look. We've been doing this for five weeks now. And I'm not your student anymore. So, I think it's okay if call me 'Harry.'"
He expected Snape to argue, to snap back with some waspish remark like: I have no desire to be on a first name basis with you, Potter.
Snape just looked at him.
"I – I mean…if you want…"
Another pause. And just when Harry was certain that he was going to refuse:
"As you wish…Harry."
Oh God! Chills went down Harry's spine at the sound of The Voice saying his name. Smiling and closing his eyes, he imagined how it would sound in his dreams that night.
He opened his eyes to find Snape looking at him from across the room. He looked straight back without blinking.
There was a very awkward pause.
Snape lifted an eyebrow. "If you are expecting reciprocation on my part, you are not going to get it."
Another pause.
"Fine, Professor,if that's the way you want it."
"That is most definitely 'the way I want it.'"
Silence. They were still staring at each other and unless Snape was very much mistaken (and it was all the way across the room so he couldn't be sure) but for a fleeting instant, he thought he saw Harry pout at him.
Snape broke away from Harry's gaze and attempted to go back to his chopping. Harry continued to stare (pout) at him. Snape was determinedly not looking at him. Don't do it, Severus. Don't give in to the presumptuous brat. Don't…DAMN!
"I…suppose…if we are indeed in the…privacy of my office – and there is no one else around, mind you – and you have a particularly great desire to … call me by my given name…I would not…take offense if you…did so…"
What? Harry tried to puzzle out that disjointed, mumbled sentence.
"Does that mean I can call you 'Severus?'"
Silence. Then a very soft "Hm." from the other side of the room.
Harry's face lit up with a dazzling smile at the non-committal noise. This was another thing to add to his dreams: it rolled off tongue so much easier than 'Professor Snape, sir." He was so happy that he almost had the urge to run over to Snape (now Severus) and hug him. Almost. (It occurred to him that Snape was still holding a knife and probably would not hesitate to use it in what he would perceive as an attack or a demonstration of too much happiness.)
He went back to his scrubbing and Snape had started chopping again. In fact, he did not think of anything else until he was at Snape's door about to leave.
Half-way out the door, he turned and looked over his shoulder.
"By the way, you can still call me 'presumptuous brat.'"
Snape's eyes glittered – for the first time more of a 'Dumbledore twinkle' than a 'You're-in-deep-trouble malicious glint.'
"Well, thank Merlin - I had hardly dared to hope."
A/N: Hi guys, sorry this took so long to come out but I needed a little vacation this weekend. Did anyone catch my Alan Rickman – Dogma reference? Alright guys, this story is beginning to draw to a close so if anyone wants to throw some ideas my way, I'm always happy to hear them! As always – please feed the author.
And on the thank you's: toolazytologin, Kateri1, hmmm, Dark-Lady-Devinity, Anime Monster, peacockgal17, willowtree16, Amanda Saitou (I'm not sure if there are going to be more sexy scenes…but I'm sure I'll come up with something), AND (last but certainly not least) seabiscuit0810 THANK YOU ALL!