Reviews: Iago96, cazza, SS, MT,UF and GW, Daisy and meep meep thank you for your reviews, for they give me an incentive to write. SS, MT, UF and GW, I fear for your mental wellbeing, imbecile has an e and please don't insult Sev as I get very defensive and tend to scare innocent passers by. (PS great names) Daisy, you can have as many cookies as you like, they're not real. Meep meep, Black eyed boy didn't suddenly stop, I finished it!

Chapter 2: Repercussions.

Even the best kept secrets are bound to come out sooner or later.

This is a fact Severus Snape, having been a spy for the majority of his life (either for Voldemort or Dumbledore) and priding himself on his ability to conceal important information even under the influence of veritaserum, was well aware of. He also knew that if others found out about his current love interest he would suffer more than just a slap on the wrist and a stern talk on his role as a teacher, followed by a lemon drop and request to 'run along'.

He realised that he should've finished his relationship with Harry, or avoided it in the first place, but the longer he left it the more difficult it became. It was shortly before their secret was discovered that he realized-to his horror-that he, Professor Severus Snape, the cold, emotionless potions master who'd made it his personal mission to terrorize the population of Hogwarts for the whole duration of the time he'd spent there, was falling in love with the troubled teenage saviour of the world.

He should have been patrolling the corridors. Although the school was practically empty during half-term holidays, more students seemed to take to wandering the school at unsociable hours. However, something felt wrong. He knew that Harry was the only fifth year Gryffindor to be staying at the school throughout the holidays, and was suddenly worried that if anything happened (although what he didn't know) nobody would be there to protect him.

Looking around to make sure that nobody was watching, Severus slinked up the stone staircase. He was slightly perturbed when the Fat Lady refused to permit him access to Griffindor Tower, but she withered beneath his unwavering glare, which had broken stronger people than her.

The Death Eaters broke into the school when he was halfway up the stairs.

Harry was dreaming again. He was running through the graveyard again, needing desperately to reach the port key and wake himself up. The tombstones were growing-taller, wider-until they blocked the stolen light of the moon and left him in the dark. He could hear Voldemort's voice and his mother's screams growing louder until they were no longer in the distance, but echoing callously inside his skull, making him shout out in the soundless voice of nightmares. Spells hit him from the blackness around him but he couldn't die. He continued running but his legs were too heavy to work and Cedric's body refused to move. He collapsed onto the dewy grass and looked at Cedric. The spells shooting back and forth lit his face, which started to change steadily beneath the bright dashes of colour, until he was staring at the dead, sneering face of Severus Snape.

Harry flinched when Severus shook his shoulder and scrambled as close to the wall as he could, before his sleep-dimmed eyes recognised the dark man sitting on the edge of his bed. He desperately wrapped his feeble arms around the older wizard's waist and rested his head on his shoulder, tears tumbling through tightly closed eyelids. Severus gently curled his arm around the sobbing teens shoulder and brushed his unruly hair from his face with slender fingers.

"Shh. It's okay. You're safe." Harry was soothed by the compassion shown by the usually apathetic man. "Another dream?" Harry nodded against Severus' chest, his hand still clinging to his robes. "I could give you a potion to stop them, if you'd like?" He shook his head.

"I don't want anything tampering with my mind." Severus kissed his forehead.

"Fair enough. Go back to sleep." Harry slipped away from him and lay back down. Severus stood to leave, but was stopped by Harry's pale fingers entwined in his own.

"Will you stay until I've fallen asleep?" Even though the room was dark, the heavy drapes sheltering the room from any light, Severus could still see the fear in Harry's face. He smiled and sat down again.

"Of course I can."

By the time he'd returned to the entrance hall the Death Eaters had failed in their attempt to overthrow the castle and had fled, leaving the students to run panic stricken, nobody moving in a particular direction. I'm away five bloody minutes and the whole school goes to Hell!

"QUIET!" the sound of Professor Snape's irate voice caused the pupils to stop in their tracks. Some of them had the decency to look sheepish. "Stop rushing around like morons and get back to your dormitories. NOW!" They didn't need to be told twice. The venom in his voice was evident. He turned on his heel, robes billowing, and his obsidian met bright blue ones. The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes was gone and instead was a look of fury which stilled the potions master.

"My office. Now." Dumbledore strode passed himand Snape was left with no option but to follow.

"Sit down, Severus." Severus sat on the edge of the seat, uncertainly. He ran through a list of excuses in his head, but none of them pardoned a sixth month relationship between an emotionally unstable fifteen year old and his Potions professor, twenty years his elder.

"Where were you this evening?" He looked down at his hands. "And don't lie to me."

"I didn't realize I had to inform you as to my every move." Dumbledore turned sharply and planted his fists on the desk.

"Don't be smart with me, boy. Where were you?" Severus coloured and looked down, feeling like he was still a student. Despite a life of living behind lies, he decided it was finally the time to start telling the truth.

"I…I was with Harry." Dumbledore closed his eyes and sank into the chair on the other side of the desk, his head dropping into his gnarled hands. The minutes ticked by and still he said nothing, as Severus went through a mental checklist of every possible consequence of his confession. Eventually he spoke.

"How long has this been going on? Or don't I want to know?"

"About half a year." Dumbledore groaned.

"Merlin. Why didn't you stop it, Severus? Why? Do you know what kind of a position this has put me in?"

"I'm sorry."

"I said don't lie to me." Severus wished he would look at him, but his eyes were still fixed on the desk. He started to speak, but paused momentarily. "Have you slept with him." Severus found himself blushing again.

"No!" He stood and started to pace the room. "I'm not some sort of twisted pervert. I think…I think I'm falling in love with him." Dumbledore laughed, but without humour.

"Oh hell. Do you have any intention of breaking up with him?" The words sounded strange issued from Dumbledore's ancient throat. Severus stopped in front of the desk and shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"Fine. I won't tell anybody, but I want you out of this castle."

"Headmaster?" Severus cursed himself for his naivety. Of course he'd lose his job!

"You can stay for a few days while I find a replacement potions teacher and you sort your things out, but I want you gone by next week." Severus gritted his teeth and nodded once. "Don't look at me like that, Severus. You know I can't let you stay here if you insist on continuing your relationship with one of our students. If you leave quietly we can avoid ruining your reputation or an investigation from the ministry." Severus swallowed, choking back the spiteful comments he wanted he wanted to spew across the room to the old man, knowing that he was being let off lightly.

"Headmaster." He strode from the room with his head held high, almost knocking over an inappropriately placed first year.

Severus sank into his chair halfway through packing and let his head fall into his hands, wondering how he allowed his life to slip so far from his grasp without noticing. He heard a soft knock on the door and ordered the person responsible to go away. He ignored his indignant reply.

Harry stepped around the door cautiously. He was no longer scared of Snape, so much as wary of him, and he still had a foul temper.

"Sev?" When he made no reply Harry decided it was safe to come in and shut the door behind him. "Professor Dumbledore talked to me. He said you were leaving." He slipped into Severus' lap and tidied his hair behind his ears. Severus had always been amused at Harry's preoccupation with fixing his hair when his own was a disruptive mass of curls. The corners of Severus' mouth twitched and he kissed Harry's fingers. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." Harry shied away at the sharpness of his tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'll be okay. It was just a job, I can easily find a new one." Harry, satisfied with the half-hearted answer, wrapped his arms around Severus' waist and rested his head against his neck.

"Nobody can take you away from me." Severus smiled bitterly at Harry's irrepressible optimism and couldn't shatter his youthful naivety by telling him that yes, they could.