Hello everybody, thank you so much for reveiwing, I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday but I did say it would sometimes be every other day.
I'm frightened by what I see
But somehow I know
That there's much more to come
Severus awoke cold, damp and alone. His head and back hurt terribly but they should be at least fully healed by now the pain however always lingered.
Slowly and creakily he hauled himself to his feet, stretching and hearing several satisfactory cracks and clicks.
His mental assessment completed, he sniffed lightly, judging by the lingering scents of his mate and the headmaster he judged that he'd been out for about two hours. He must have passed out shortly after Dumbledore had taken his mate away.
A growl sounded from his lips.
Taken. His. MATE. Away!
With a jerk he was barrelling his way down the hall, his robes swirling and churning behind him, his head slightly bent and a snarl on his lips.
He really hoped the headmaster was ready for a furious and mate deprived vampire to come a calling.
Gently the fine white china teacup was removed from Harry's shaking fingers.
His wings had folded neatly back into his body and he looked just like his usual self, unfortunately it was a much paler version of himself.
"How do you feel now Harry?" Harry turned his gaze from the wall to the Headmaster as if he had just realised that he was there.
"Empty and alone." He whispered turning back to the wall.
Dumbledore frowned, he shouldn't be feeling anything except shock perhaps. So yes he had possibly almost been raped by a lust induced professor, but Harry usually took these things on the chin, his rather unorthodox life demanded it of him.
"I think it best you sleep on it for now Harry and I think I will arrange for you to have tomorrow off, this has all been a terrible shock and rest will help." Receiving no answer or even acknowledgement Dumbledore stepped back and called, "Dobby!"
With a snap of his fingers the house elf was before him and he swiftly gave him instructions to escort Harry back to his rooms and ensure that he went straight to bed.
Dobby was only too happy to comply and led Harry out of the room, immediately starting up a one sided conversation about socks. Which Harry seemed to ignore.
Carding his fingers through his hair Dumbledore wearily collapsed behind his desk and poured himself a cup of tea. Sorting through his papers he again looked over the minimal information he had had gathered on Cupido's. For the life of him he could not figure out why Harry was still affected by Snape's arousal despite the fact he was taking the potion…and he was taking the potion, otherwise Snape would not be the only one reacting to Harry's presence in the way that he did.
But why, why did Harry keep going into diameter? So called because when he went into it and transformed he was halfway there to seducing the aroused man he'd encountered, it took two after all.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by the door literally, blasting open. A ball of magic burst through the solid oak and blew the door to smithereens, bits of wood raining down on the Headmaster as he turned shocked eyes to the figure in the doorway.
"You!" The word was twisted with rage as the figure stepped through the ruined doorway into the room.
"You twisted, manipulative interfering old man!" The vampire sped up as he moved at a furious pace towards the Headmaster until he hurtled over the desk and grabbed Dumbledore's collar, dragging him up and slamming him into the wall.
"You, had the audacity to take my mate from me and cause him pain!" He jerked the elder man foreword and forced him back into the wall hard enough for tiny bits of plaster to rain from the ceiling.
"I could smell it as I came up here, he is alone, confused and in pain and YOU made it so!"
His fangs burst from his gums as he growled into the Headmasters face, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip you to shreds!"
Dumbledore struggled to breath round the fist wrapped about his throat and uselessly tugged at the other man's hands.
"Severus calm down…don't…force me to…hurt you." He wheezed, his breath coming in helpless gasps.
"Hurt me," Severus snarled, "Shut up you silly old man." Severus tossed the Headmaster to the floor by his throat and watched as he tried to get his breathing back to normal.
"Get up!" He ordered, "Get up and explain why you did what you did…now!"
Slowly with the help of the chair behind his desk, Dumbledore hauled himself into it and finally got himself under control.
"I didn't know he was your mate," He said quietly, "I thought you were simply reacting to his transformation and accompanying scent. I couldn't let you have him."
Angrily Severus knocked several of Dumbledore's things from his desk to the floor. Tiny little machines shattered from the impact and papers floated like a flock of doves around the room.
"I was about to claim him! Now thanks to you he is wandering around a building full of teenage males, unmarked!"
Suddenly Dumbledore's eyes snapped open as he had closed them wearily, "That's it!" He said rising and pacing about the room. "How could I have been such a fool, Harry's body if not his mind, recognises you as his mate and that's why the potion doesn't work!"
"You mean he does not know I am his mate?" Severus said disappointedly, his anger forgotten for the moment.
"Yes he does subconsciously and that's why he felt empty and alone" Grabbing a piece of paper from the floor Dumbledore dipped a quill hurriedly into an inkwell and began to write down notes and calculations.
"He has only been effected by your arousal twice before and both times there was no contact only yearning on his part, but this time due to your need to claim him and the realisation that he is your mate you kissed and touched him. Which means his body fully recognises you as his mate now and still yearns for you despite the fact you are gone!"
Severus stood quickly, "Well then I must go to him!"
Dumbledore reached over and pushed Severus into a seated position on the desk once more, "No!"
"Old man you try my patience." Severus snarled, trying to fight the magic holding him down.
"Severus you are walking on thin ice as it is! Now listen to me, although Harry's body and subconscious mind recognises you as his mate, his conscious mind does not and it is very likely that if you just barge in and attempt claim him, he will fight and reject you and that must not be allowed to happen. If Harry is kept from you now for to long he could quite easily die of a broken heart."
"Then I shall force him to acknowledge me, he can't help it if he smells my arousal can he?"
Dumbledore sighed, "No he can't but do you really want to go down that route? Do you really want to FORCE him into accepting you?"
Severus looked away, "Fine, but what do you suggest I do? I need to mark him soon Dumbledore, I cannot allow him to wander around unclaimed much longer!"
Seeing that Severus was no longer struggling and hadn't been for a while Dumbledore slowly withdrew his magic and let the potions master go.
"I'd say judging by my calculations you have about a week until he will start to show signs of illness from not being around you as often as he needs to. A week Severus in which you will need to touch him and get to know him as much as possible to get him used to you and therefore once he realises you are his destined he will not be so adverse to the idea.
I will arrange for him to help you with your medicinal potions this week every evening for an hour and a half, the rest is up to you."
"And after a week I can claim him?"
Dumbledore nodded "Yes after a week you can claim him." Severus got up to leave, "Oh and Severus?"
He turned just as he was about to step through the ruined door, "Do try to think CLEAN thoughts whilst your with him we don't want things to get out of hand before he's used to you."
Severus nodded and went on his way. Clean thoughts? When were his thoughts ever clean?
"He's not serious!"
Hermione and Ron looked up from their lunches startled. Harry hadn't said two words together all day and had seemed utterly miserable. Now he seemed furious, his silent phase obviously forgotten as he glared down at the letter he had just opened.
"Who's not serious Harry?" Hermione said, frowning as Ron managed to fit an entire roast potato into his mouth and then say around it,
"Yr Hrry wha's ler sa?"
"Ew Ronald do try to use the manners your mother taught you."
He turned to stare at her incredulously, chewing and partially swallowing the vegetable before saying, "Who cares?" Whilst spraying bits of potato all over her.
She wiped the soggy bits of mush from her face and hair before flinging back on his plate, her nose wrinkled and a frown marring her forehead.
"I do." She said huffily.
"I hate Dumbledore! He's a manipulative, conniving, stupid, twisted, idiotic old man!"
"Harry!" Hermione said, shocked to the core at what Harry had just said about the Headmaster, "You mustn't say things like that."
"I don't care!" He proclaimed distress marring his features.
"Miss Granger is right, as usual. You should be more careful about what you say, you never know who may be listening."
The austere presence of the potions master surrounded them as he stepped up behind Harry and plucked the letter in his hand from his fingers, careful to brush them lightly with his own as he did so.
"Ah I see Dumbledore has informed you that you are to be helping me this week, surely this is not the reason for your distress?" He said with raised brow as Harry tipped his head back to look at the dark figure, ignoring the tingling that had by now consumed his entire hand.
"Yes actually it is! You know what happens when I'm around you!" Severus's eyes grew black with anger.
"Surely you are not suggesting that I am unable to control myself around you Mr Potter." He said dangerously quietly.
Something inside Harry sparked with fear and he lowered his gaze. "No sir."
Severus raised his chin and regarded the boy in silence for a while, "Good, see you in potions after lunch Potter." As he walked off his hand brushed the back of Harry's neck slightly and suddenly he was calm and no longer afraid.
"We should probably go earlier guys, don't want to upset him further." He said, the need to please the potions master uppermost in his mind.
"So when are you going to ask him?" Parvati leant over and whispered to Dean as the trio left, she was beyond exited as she was obsessed with anything to do with romance.
"Well if I leave now I could probably ask him before potions." He said draining his glass of pumpkin juice and kicking his chair back. "I'll see you there."
Hurrying out of the hall he followed the trio down into the dungeons. He was hoping to ask Harry if he would go with him to Hogsmeade that weekend as Seventh years had the privilege of being allowed to go whether it was a Hogsmeade weekend or not. He knew Harry was gay, as it had been revealed in a truth or dare game they had been playing the year before.
Coming to a stop outside the potions classroom he gathered his courage and walked up to the golden boy.
"Harry could I talk to you for a moment?" Harry turned form his conversation with his friends and blinked in surprise.
"Yeah 'course you can" Tugging on Harry's arm Dean pulled him to a spot a little way down the hall and leaned his hand beside Harry's head on the rough stone wall as he faced him.
"I was just wondering," He said leaning in a little closer, "If you would come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend, you know like…on a date?"
Harry blinked again in surprise, "Well I – "
Suddenly Dean felt a something crushing his windpipe and he gurgled in protest as his robes were grasped from behind and then he was flying, no falling and crashing into the hard stone floor a little way away.
Looking up he quaked in fear as he saw Snape looking down at him, his face contorted in rage and a sound strangely like a growl escaping his throat.
Snape had come out of the classroom to let the early students into his classroom and glanced down the hall to see what he had feared from the start. Someone was attempting to come on to HIS mate.
Blinded by his anger Snape had only been able to see the insolent whelp who dared to challenge him and had instantly thrown him to the floor and pulled Harry behind him and kept him there in a vice like grip.
Harry didn't mind the tight enclosure he found himself in, in the slightest. He felt safe and comforted and he couldn't help but bury himself further into the safe haven around him.
"Severus! Mr Thomas was NOT posing a threat to Mr Potter, leave him alone."
Another growl rumbled round the hallway as Severus leaned over the frightened boy and smirked as he heard the frantic beating of his heart. What a lesson to teach this boy, if he could only just sink his teeth into him and suck him dry, quickly and painfully. Dragging every drop of blood from his body with the speed of a freight train. Twenty seconds, that's all it would take, he licked his lips just twenty seconds to teach him the last lesson he'd ever know.
"Severus they were not fighting leave Mr Thomas ALONE!" Dumbledore could see that the situation was slipping steadily out of his control. Mr Potter's two loyal friends were watching the entire scene with wide eyes and he could almost see the cogs working in Miss Granger's brain.
Watching he saw Severus reign in his tight control and assess the situation from a new angle.
Quietly he spoke, "I do apologise Mr Thomas, from where I was standing it looked as if you were going to hit Mr Potter and as you know this is against school rules."
Turning he realised he was still keeping a tight hold of Harry and held back a smile when he saw the boy burying his face in his robes and making contented little noises with his eyes closed.
Forcing himself to let go of his mate he moved to the door and ignored the bewildered look on the young mans face, as he was suddenly left alone.
"All of you IN!"
Quietly they filed in and after having assessed Dean for possible injuries Dumbledore pushed him gently towards the door and turned leave himself.
Severus smirked nastily as he saw the boy give him a wide berth as he passed him and nodded in approval when he chose a desk on the Gryffindor side of the room as far away from Harry as he could possibly be.
"Harry mate," Harry turned as Ron tapped him on the shoulder from the desk behind and spoke to him in a whisper, "Were you SNUGGLING into Snape's robes?"
Harry blushed, "I think so."
Ron stared at him incredulously, his mouth agape. "But…WHY?"
"I don't know, perhaps it ties in with the fact I can still smell his arousal."
Ron nodded and went back to getting his books out. Hermione simply pursed her lips and stared a the professor with a frown, something funny was going on here and bugger it all if she wasn't going to sniff it out.
Dangelic Fantasy: Lol I totally agree.
Vidalark: I am sorry about that, but here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoyed it.
KaylaisEvenstar: Your absolute favourite? Wow I am flattered.
luv-blonde-bunny: I hope you enjoyed Dumbledore's reaction lol.
AmariLynn: Wow you made an account especially to review me? I am beyond flattred lol. Wow thank you I'm glad you like it.
Author is flattered by reveiws and will be humbly gratefull for more.