Details Contest #5 - Love Eater - Challenge #4 Harry applies for an apprenticeship with Snape. (altaira)
Disclaimer Severus, Harry and all the rest do NOT belong to me (except for Anita Abbott). Unfortunately. Trust me, if they did; well, there'd be hardly any doubt as to whether or not Harry was going to survive. And copulate. And MPREG would definitely pop up more than once. And… hang on, I'll stop now otherwise I'll keep going all day.
Title Just That Kinda Guy
Author Kailee
Rating G - Innocent
Warnings Major (F)luff, (O)ne-shot, Somewhat OO(C)
Summary (post-war) On the night of the Hogwarts Graduation Ceremony, Harry approaches Professor Snape and asks him for a favour. Written for TSS Contest #5
HPSS
Severus Snape glared out the window at the rain. If it hadn't been raining, the gathering of proud students and even prouder parents would have been outside, and he might have had a chance to slip away. He had no choice but to stick around now.
"Ah, you would be Professor Snape, am I right?" one of the proud parents of a graduate approached him. "My daughter has told me much about you."
"And who is your daughter?" Severus asked through clenched teeth. He hated being civil.
"Oh, how silly of me. I am Anita Abbott, Hannah's mother," she smiled politely and extended her hand. Severus glared at it as if the woman was a leper. "I have wanted to meet you for so long."
"Why is that, madam?" Severus frowned – exactly who would want to meet him? He had been as nasty as anything towards Miss Abbott (who was a Hufflepuff), and Severus was sure that the silly girl had written to her parents and complained about him more than once.
On the other hand, maybe he had underestimated the Hufflepuff's common sense. The next words out of Mrs Abbott's mouth confirmed this, and also made Severus guess that Miss Abbott's lack of sense had been inherited from her mother.
"Hannah absolutely loved your class," she gushed. Blinking more than necessary, the woman leaned forward. "I was disappointed that you weren't my Potions teacher at school," she confided in him. Severus simply raised one eyebrow and took a step back.
"I take it that you did not attend Hogwarts for your schooling then, Mrs Abbott?" he said neutrally, hoping to distract her from her blatant attempts to flirt with him. He hadn't written comments on the students' reports yet (they would be sent out over the next month or so) – maybe this was some kind of asinine attempt to get a good review for her daughter?
"Oh no, I went to Beauxbatons Academy. Top in my class for Potions," she stated proudly. If Severus hadn't had a good poker face, he would have either burst out laughing or had a look of pure disbelief on his face. This woman, mother of a Hufflepuff who came close to bottom, came top in her class?
Severus supposed it was possible. Not likely, but possible.
"That's… er… nice," Severus took another step back, only to find a wall behind him. Mrs Abbott moved closer once again.
"Please, Professor, call me Anita," she whispered. Someone to Severus' left cleared their throat loudly. 'Anita' jumped away from the Potions Master, looking obscenely guilty. Severus turned his head to see who his saviour was.
Ah. The Boy Who Lived (Again). "Severus, love, is this woman bothering you?" Potter asked him, putting on a show of possessiveness. Severus caught onto his game, and decided to play along; anything to get the Hufflepuff's mother away from him.
"Love?" the woman repeated stupidly. "You two are… are… together?" An incredulous look came over her face, before turning to one of positive disgust. "That's against the law! Harry isn't even seventeen yet!" she exclaimed.
"On the contrary, Mrs…"
"Abbott," she supplied.
"Mrs Abbott. I was seventeen before school began this year, and free to make my own choices – including who I want to spend the night with," Potter said smugly. Swallowing inaudibly, Severus stepped towards his 'lover'.
"Harry," he forced himself to say. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, here and there. With my friends, mostly," Potter smiled at him. Severus swallowed again – he wasn't used to this sort of familiarity. "Why didn't you come and find me when the ceremony was over?" Potter flirted slightly. Severus repressed a shudder.
"I was… tied up?" Severus replied weakly. "Unfortunately, I have to socialise." This was said in a much stronger voice. Abbott was still standing there, disbelief and disgust warring on her features. Disbelief, Severus was horrified to see, was the primary emotion.
"When you would much rather come back to our rooms with me, you mean?" Potter grinned. Severus coughed lightly, concealing his shock at the boy's unashamed banter.
"You know what I mean," he mumbled. Potter chanced a glance at Abbott, and saw the disbelief. He sighed as if defeated.
"Well, I simply must get back to my friends," the Gryffindor admitted. "A kiss for luck?" Potter winked at Severus, silently asking him to play along. Severus guessed that the woman had also tried to hit on him earlier, and Harry had deflected her attempts to get him to go to bed with her by telling her that he already had a lover.
"Certainly," Severus forced a smiled onto his face. Bracing himself, he leaned down and placed a light kiss on Potter's lips. Potter's bright green eyes widened for a second, before he broke contact and glanced over to Abbott to see if she was satisfied.
She wasn't, and Severus felt Har- Potter (it was difficult to call someone by their last name when you were kissing them) step closer to him. Severus knew exactly what was going to happen. "Kiss me like you mean it," Potter breathed before sealing their lips together again.
One of the first things Severus noticed was the way that he didn't have to bend down all that far to reach Potter's lips. He was only about an inch shorter than Severus – making for a good kiss, height-wise.
The second thing was the softness of Har-Pott- Harry's lips. Severus' eyes slid closed – he hadn't been kissed like this in a long time. Actually, he couldn't ever remember someone kissing him like they loved him; maybe his mother had once or twice, but Severus had been very young when she died and he didn't remember.
Harry's hand drifted up to lightly caress Severus' neck. Neither of them noticed when Anita Abbott huffed and walked away – they were far too caught up in the sensations of kissing.
Harry, being very brace in Severus' opinion, opened his mouth slightly and let his tongue trace over Severus' thin lips. The Potions Master gasped only lightly at the new feeling, and Harry took the opportunity to slid his tongue into Severus' mouth.
Severus' first instinct was to bite it off – this was the Boy Who Lived (Again) after all, the one who had caused him torment and vice versa since that day almost seven years ago when the Gryffindor first came to Hogwarts.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), Harry broke the kiss. Both men breathed heavily, not even realising they were quite comfortable in the other's embrace. "Was there… something you wanted to talk to me about?" Severus murmured as they pulled apart.
"Yes, but it can wait until later," Ha- no, he was Potter again now – smiled. It really was a gorgeous smile. "Is she gone?" he asked, looking around. Spying Abbott over with Professor Vector, the Arithmancy professor, he smiled.
"She's not going to have much luck with Vector," Severus shook his head. "He's been happily married for the past fifteen years. And there's his wife now," he said, motioning to the other Professor Vector – the Ancient Runes teacher.
"I don't think Hannah did very well on many subjects," Harry mused as they watched the miserably failing seduction attempt come to a halt when Professor Vector (Ancient Runes) pulled Abbott's hair.
"I don't know about the others, but she came near bottom in Potions," Severus said. "Only Mr Thomas did worse than she did."
"How did Neville go?" Harry asked curiously.
"I'm not allowed to tell you," Severus turned to him. "But I will say he did better than I expected."
"That's good. I'll come and find you later, Professor – I still have to ask you something," Ha- Potter! waved goodbye vaguely and made his way back to the Weasley clan, kiss seemingly forgotten.
Only after making sure that no-one was watching, did Severus bring his hand up and touch his lips lightly.
SSHP
"Mr Potter, I believe that now would be a good time to speak," Severus caught up with the (former) Gryffindor just as the post-ceremony feast ended and everyone filed out of the hall. Parents were hugging children goodbye, even though they would be seeing them in less than twenty-four hours.
"Oh, yeah," Potter seemed to have forgotten about his promise to talk to Severus later. Severus couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Uh, Professor. Do you remember when I helped you get out of the mansion?" he asked hesitantly.
Indeed, Severus did remember. During the final battle, Severus had been hit by a nasty hex of some sort, and had been unable to get to his portkey to get him out of the Riddle Mansion. He had been forced to simply watch the rest of the battle, as Potter defeated Voldemort.
Lucius Malfoy had advanced on Severus after Voldemort's defeat, however. And with Severus completely helpless, there was almost no chance that the Potions Master/spy would survive the night. At that moment, though, Potter had raced over and knocked Malfoy out of the way with sheer brute force. He had placed his own portkey in Severus' hand, and they had both been whisked away to the Hogwarts Infirmary. Severus owed Harry a Wizard's Debt.
"I do," Severus said after it was clear that Potter was waiting for acknowledgement. "Have you decided how you want me to repay my Debt, yet?"
"I have," Potter nodded. "I want you to take me on as your Apprentice," he said. Severus nodded, a slight sarcastic smile on his face.
"The real choice now, Potter. You and I both know that we wouldn't last five minutes together in a Master-Apprentice bond," Severus sneered.
"I'm not joking, Professor. I've research all there is to know on bonds of that sort, and I've even checked with Professor Dumbledore to make sure it's OK. Besides," Potter snorted. "After our little display this evening, I think that most people would be shocked if I didn'tstay at Hogwarts with you in some form."
The boy had a point, Severus was forced to admit. "You… want to stay here at Hogwarts with me… just because everyone else thinks you should?" he asked sceptically.
"Not exactly," Potter said, and was that a blush that painted his cheeks? "I've… I'm pretty sure… what I mean to say is…"
"Spit it out, Potter," Severus grunted.
"IthinkthatIreallyreallylikeyouSeverusandIthinkyou'resexyandIwanttostayatHogwarts breath andgettoknowyoubetterandseeifyoucanbemorethanjustthesnarkybastardI'veknownduringmyyearshere," Potter said in a rush. Severus took a minute to decode this.
'I think that I really, really like you, Severus and I think you're sexy and I want to stay at Hogwarts and get to know you better and see if you can be more than just the snarky bastard I've known during my years here.'
Severus blinked. "I assure you, Mr Potter, there is no more to me than just the snarky bastard you have already met," he scoffed.
"I want to find that out for myself," Potter replied. "Will you take me as your Apprentice, or should I find some other way to stay? I'm sure that Madam Hooch would like an assistant to help her with her flying classes."
"Mr Potter, are you absolutely sure that you want to spend the next five years cooped up with me in the dungeons, learning about the thing you hate most, potions?" Severus asked.
"I'm willing to put up with the potions if I can learn more about you," Potter shrugged.
"So you're sure? There's no way to back out once you've signed the contract," Severus warned him. Potter nodded.
"I'm sure," he said.
"Let's go and find Albus, then," Severus sighed. "Five more years with you… I hope they have a room ready for me at St. Mungo's."
"If they do, I'll change it into a double so I can still talk to you."
"How soppy," Severus shook his head.
"I'm just that kind of guy."