TITLE: Harry Potter and the Obligatory Sequel, Chapter Fifteen
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Belongs to J.K. Rowling.
BETA: The Incredible Irisgirl12000, and all further mistakes are mine.
SUMMARY: Harry drops things, Snape receives a letter and an unexpected visit, and Harry and Lupin have a chat.

Chapter Fifteen: Creeveys Are People, Too

"Harry, I'll have to see you this evening after supper."

Harry, who'd been in the process of organizing his books as the rest of the class filed out, looked up. "Why?" he asked Remus, surprised.

"Because I need to get the Grindylows ready for the third year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, so I haven't time to meet with you now."

"I could help you set up," Harry offered.

Remus gave him a small smile. "And be late for your next class, too? Detention with me this evening, instead. I'll even give the House points back."

Harry sighed, but nodded. He struggled to lift his monstrous stack of texts, trailing after Ron and Hermione, who were walking hand in hand, heads bent together as they laughed over some couples thing. Harry frowned.

"Here. Let me help," a steely voice ordered.

He blinked at Zabini, who pulled the top couple of books from the stack. "What are you doing?"

"I'll escort you to your next class. We need to talk." Zabini led the way out of the room, and a puzzled Harry nodded goodbye to Lupin before following. He couldn't imagine what the deuce the tramp was up to now.

They fell behind the other students, and Harry couldn't help giving his companion many suspicious glances. Was Blaise trying to get Harry alone in order to hex him? Was he trying to lead Harry into a trap? Should he try to get at his wand? "What the hell do you want?" Harry finally asked, exasperated that Blaise hadn't said anything more.

The boy bit his lip, looking at Harry indecisively. "Look, I…this isn't…I'm not sure how to start," he admitted.

"If you have something to say, just say it," Harry instructed. He hated having his hands full, so that he couldn't defend himself. Just the idea made him sweat.

Zabini merely frowned. "Fine," he replied. "What exactly are your intentions with regards to Colin Creevey?"

Harry tripped over nothing, dropping a couple of books, which Zabini reluctantly retrieved. "My what?" Harry responded.

Blaise took a deep breath, tucking the books under his arm. "What do you want with him? You've never given a toss about him before, and you know he's mad about you. Now that Snape is…out of the picture, are you moving on to Creevey? Or is this all just a sick ga—I mean, or are you just on the rebound?"

Harry was furious. He could barely see straight. "Why should I tell you? Why do you keep bothering me about Colin? It's none of your business! Do you want to shag Colin Creevey?" he asked with a sneer.

Blaise reeled. "You—shut it! It's none of your business! You're just playing sick games with him anyway!" he hollered.

Harry's heart began to cease its livid racing as comprehension dawned. He stared at Blaise for a long moment. "You do want to shag him, don't you?" he said quietly.

"No! You idiot! I—"

"Harry! What's going on? You're going to be late!" Hermione chided, her head poking out of the Charms classroom. "Again! You aren't fighting, are you?" she asked the boys.

"No," Blaise said sullenly. He shoved his small stack of books at Harry, who fumbled, trying to juggle the ones he still held with the ones Blaise was giving him.

"Yes—er, no, Hermione, but—wait—Blaise," he stuttered, as Zabini sauntered away. Harry thought it might be his imagination, but Blaise's saunter seemed to be more show and less confidence than usual.

"Harry," Hermione hissed. "Hurry!"

Grumbling under his breath about cryptic rivals who apparently wanted to steal everyone away from him, Harry gave up and went to class.

OoOoOoOoO

It took Severus several seconds to register the tapping on his window. Few people sent owls to his private chambers, both because their location wasn't widely advertised and because those who knew of them were strongly discouraged from doing so. The one time Potter had suggested it, Severus informed him that it would be a dandy idea, so long as the boy had a powerful desire to claim the title the Boy Who Walked Oddly. The subject was not broached again.

Thus it was with no small amount of trepidation that he made his way on unsteady legs to throw back the grimy curtains. Un-jamming the window required the use of numerous spells. The glass was too dirty, and it was too dim outside to get a clear look at the bird. Eventually, there was a shriek of protest from the frame, and the window opened.

Snape stared as the owl tumbled into the room, a strangely lopsided rhythm to its wing beats. One claw was shrivelled and useless, and the other clutched a bit of parchment. He'd seen this owl before. It was a reliable bird, tough and experienced, much like its owner. Hurrying forward, Snape grabbed at the paper so the owl could be allowed to land.

He didn't offer it anything in return. He knew it wouldn't have accepted anything. It was that kind of owl.

Unfolding the parchment, he read the inelegant scrawl, his face was blanching to the same colour as the paper. "Oh, fuck all," he muttered angrily, sinking into a seat.

He supposed he ought to get back to his experiments, but knew better than to do so when he was this distracted. Instead, he pried a bottle of Firewhisky from the boggart in the liquor cabinet and went to hide in his bed. It was his last safe refuge.

For now, anyway.

OoOoOoOoO

Blaise nervously approached the group of Gryffindors. He knew perfectly well that they despised him. Particularly the Weasley twits, who resented anyone taking their Harry's time or attention away from them.

"Excuse me," he said quietly, and the study group looked up in surprise. The only person who didn't look vaguely hostile was Creevey, and Blaise had to suppose this was only because the poor little thing didn't know any better.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked, her features twisted by an unladylike sneer.

"Nothing," he replied. "It's only that when I ran into Potter in the hallway earlier, he dropped his books, and…he missed one," Blaise finished lamely, holding up the slim volume.

"Twentye Rare Potions," Granger read aloud, accepting the book. "I wonder what he was looking at Potions for?"

"You'd know better than me," Blaise shrugged. "Anyway, if you could give that back to him…See you around," he added, when no one really responded one way or another.

"Wait, you could help!" Colin chirped.

"Colin," Ginny growled, chastisement coating her throat.

"He's a Death Eater," Ron chimed in. "And this is top secret stuff!"

"You're both wrong," Colin said firmly. "Blaise is really great and nice and helps me with my Defence homework, and I don't believe he's a Death Eater. I think he'd be a big help."

Despite himself, Blaise felt his cheeks begin to glow. "Er, maybe," he allowed. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something that would help Harry defeat Voldemort," Hermione explained.

Colin nodded eagerly. "Yeah, you know—anything that might give him an edge."

"Well…I suppose that's a pretty good idea," Blaise agreed. A sidelong look at Ginny let him know that she was bloody furious, and that was as good a reason to stay as any. "Okay, I'll help," he said with false cheer. The way the Weasleys' faces fell raised his spirits a little. It beat wandering the halls and brooding, in any case. And who knew, he might just find something useful.

OoOoOoOoO

"I think you're being too rough on him," a quiet voice informed Harry.

Harry, who was in the act of cleaning the chalkboard, looked up in surprised. "Who? Blaise or Severus?" He kept his face averted. Severus had not been in class today, and they'd had a wispy little witch as a substitute. It wouldn't do for Remus to know he was worried about the man.

"Severus. Well, both, really," Remus amended judiciously.

"I don't really want to talk about this," Harry groused. "I'm not doing anything horrible to Snape. Nothing more horrible than he's done to me, anyhow. If he wants to push me away all the time, he's going to have to deal with the consequences when I let him."

Remus shook his head. "It's a lot more complicated than that."

"No, it's not. If he loves me, then he should trust me, and—"

"And that ought to work both ways."

Now Harry was getting angry. "I'm not a child anymore! He can't protect me forever!"

"None of us can!" Remus returned, sounding just a little angry himself. "That doesn't mean we oughtn't try!"

"Oh, Remus," Harry said, his anger melting away with a sigh. "I know you have good intentions, but…you don't understand."

"Neither do you," Remus told him gently. "It's because you're in an entirely different stage of life. It's all very simple for you right now—good and bad, black and white, love and hate."

"You think my life is simple? What the hell kinds of hexes have you taken to the head lately?"

"I don't think your life is simple. I think your outlook on life is simple. You think the surface of things is what's important, but it's not. It's what's underneath that—"

Harry got a strange look on his face.

"What's the—?" Remus began.

"Wait a second. I'm thinking. I…think…that's important. I don't know why. Damn. Something's been nagging at me lately. Never mind, I'll remember eventually. Anyway, where were we? Oh…look, Remus, Snape treats me like I'm not responsible enough to be told the truth, and he pushes me away whenever things get too dangerous, and he never tries to see things from my point of view. We always play by his rules, and I'm sick of it. I haven't done anything wrong here; he dumped me, and I'm okay with it. All I want is for people to be a little understanding."

Remus was silent for a while. "I understand that Harry, but Severus is going through some difficulties right now, too, and could probably use the same thing. And I'm not saying that he was particularly nice, and I know he hurt you…all I'm saying is that I think he did the right thing."

"Thanks, Miss Agony Aunt," Harry grumbled. "Could you lay off the relationship advice for a bit? You know, I was hoping to tell you about Voldemort."

Now Remus was looking worried. "What about Voldemort?"

"We're looking for a plan of attack—Ron and Ginny and I, and even Colin's been helping, and Seamus and Jack, whenever they're not making out in the bathroom."

"Harry, do not attempt to go after Voldemort. You're only half-trained, and he's extremely cunning and wicked."

"Yeah, yeah, the wicked wizard of the west; he's also ruining my life. If I can't get rid of the bastard, I'm doomed to a lifetime—however much of one it is—of desperate loneliness, as I give up boyfriend after boyfriend in order to protect them from his crazed, Harry-obsessed wrath."

"Mm-hmm. Much like a certain Potions Master?"

Harry frowned. "Well, I guess…great, now I'm starting to feel guilty. Would you please stop that? I have enough issues without that right now. I need to figure out how to kill Voldemort. I think it'll be easy—"

"Please don't say such things. You're not thinking this through."

"You're not letting me finish! I meant that I think, once we've done the preparation, it will be easy to kill him. I think the difficult bit will be making him vulnerable. All right? So we're just researching ways of increasing his vulnerability. We're not planning to do anything—yet."

Remus sighed. "You know, perhaps I oughtn't have objected to your relationship with Severus quite so strenuously. He's the only one I know who can talk you out of such foolishness when you've built up a head of steam."

"Oh, come on. You're just jealous, you know. You envy my problem-solving capabilities."

Remus shut his eyes. "Yes, that must be it."

OoOoOoOoO

Thud. Thud.

"Mnmph nmph. My desk or yours, Potter?" Severus mumbled in his sleep. "Mmmm. You can fit under the desk, too."

Thud.

Snape rolled over and fell of the couch, flinching awake at the pain in his hip as he landed none too gracefully on the floor. Where was he? What happened? Oh…right. The letter. Running out of Firewhisky. Going to get more. Getting into a wrestling competition with the Boggart over the last bottle of Old Ogden's. Passing out on the couch nigh two in the morning. Or something. Could have been five. The hours and days blended together when one was confined to one's rooms for threatening Longbottom with a Doppleganger, thereby forcing the boy to endure his own hideous company.

Thud.

What was that blasted noise? Sitting up, he realized it was coming from the door. Quasimodo, the owl, was still recuperating from his journey on a perch near the hearth, his head tucked under his wing, his ear tufts twitching.

Cautiously, Severus drew his wand. He got to his feet, and the room rocked back and forth for a long, teetering moment before settling down into something resembling a straight plane. Stealthily, Snape stumbled to the door.

With Avada Kedavra on his lips, he unlocked the knob and threw open the door. He had to swallow the words and bite down harshly on his tongue, overriding the instincts that insisted he follow through with the curse. God almighty, he nearly killed the Creevey boy. Sweating, he snarled at the brat.

"What the devil are you doing here?"

"Do you love him?"

Snape tossed a lock of lank hair out of his face. "What are you on about?"

"Do—do you love Harry? Really love him? I—want to know the truth."

Snape wanted to say, 'I'd prefer to expectorate in Potter's general direction than look straight at him, if that gives you a clue,' but what came out was, "I want to drag him down to my dungeons and spank him until he's rosy red and then kiss it better, and yes, damn you, you vicious little beast, I salivate at the thought of him, so I suppose I love him, as much as an old crook like me ever could love anyone."

The boy looked sadly up at him, his blond curls dishevelled. "Yes, I rather thought you did. If you didn't…he kissed me, you know. It was really great. I never thought he would. But then…I don't think he was thinking about me. I—I always…looked up to him. He's so terrific, you know? He's brave and he's handsome, and he's really kind of shy, which is rather cute…er, sorry," Colin murmured when he noticed Snape's patented GLARE OF DEATH was turned on him, full force.

Snape, for his part, felt that only a Creevey, a Potter, or some other cretin of a Gryffindor would have taken so long to feel the effects of said glare, which had been known to make inanimate objects burst into flame.

"What was the point of all this, then?"

Colin seemed to think this over. "I was at a crossroads," he said softly. He mumbled something about leaves not trodden, and sighed. "I was just trying to see if I'd made the right decision."

Snape arched a brow. "And did you?"

"Yes, Professor. Did you?"

Snape blinked. "What do you mean by that?" he grated out, his voice harsh with fear.

"Are you going to tell him? That you love him, I mean?"

The man shrugged his narrow shoulders uncomfortably. "Eventually, perhaps. Unless I can avoid it."

Colin merely shook his head, and turned away. He was gone before Severus could take points, leaving the befuddled, groggy Potions Master with time on his hands and a lot to think about.

It was probably time to tell Lupin about the contents of the correspondence he'd received. He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Absent lovers, obnoxious Creeveys in the middle of the night, and abasing himself to a werewolf. Life just kept getting better and better.

Thanks to:

BabyGia: Oh, SATs are easier than they make you think they'll be. Just stay cool.
Chrliii: Things are always darkest before the dawn, you know. Or in really deep closets.
GryffRavHuffSlythendor: The next chapter is far more fun, I assure you.
potter-DorK: Oh, good. Always nice to encounter a fellow evillee, or employee of evil.
Aribella: (laughs) This is true! And he's FAR worse than Harry in the next chapter!
Chantelli: And there should be free Jason Isaacs to fanfiction writers, but alas, there are not. I was annoyed by non-canon stuff in the last one, but now I'm annoyed with canon in the HBP, so bring on the non-canon! Especially if it's dirty!
Hoshiko-Malfoy: Oh, how I wish this had a soundtrack. A porno sax would erupt every time Zabini entered a room, much to Snape's annoyance, and Colin's confusion!
Cortamone: No, no, I need no muffins; I'd prefer it if you offered liposuction. I'm glad you got that! Harry's not exactly heartless, he's just not very sensitive to other people yet. I think I was the same way at his age. He's sure sensitive to Snape, though! Er, sometimes.
Aki: Your grandmother doesn't count. Mine is dead. Does that mean I'm dead? No. Do not confuse yourself with your grandmother. It will only lead to heartache. (g)
Sbyamibakura: But I like Blaise punished-in-a-good-way! With a mini horsewhip. And I liked Gravi but loved Fake…and my favorite character was J.J., so there. Yes, J.J. I want a J.J.xColin story, you know that? That'd be fun.
Tris the weatherwitch: And THEN I updated LATE. Sorry, birthday came and went, and I went out of town, and then I came down with an infection and swelled up like a puffer fish on steroids. But I'm much better now. Seriously. Oh! Oh! Wink wink and nudge nudge, and that's all I'm gonna say. HarryxSev…oh, SEV, not Sex, action next chap. Me and my clumsy fingers!
Lutheyl: Well, 'cause Harry's feeling rather insecure, and having his very own male cheerleader is soothing. And you pretty much called the next chapter, btw.
Purplepaper: Or did I just not notice your review? I get busy, too, and overlook stuff. Yes, many scenarios! Wahahaha!
Jenonymous: You know, I haven't been writing Snape as well as usual. But that's okay, 'cause the chapter after next should be a lot of fun, with Snape on the town. Woo-hoo! Snape on the rocks! Snape in socks! Okay…P.M.S. and vodka do not a coherent Starry make. Hmm. I like that. I'm gonna twist it and give it to Snape. See, you've inspired me!
Kelei: Yes, master.
And the Succulent Sweet Mercy: They have their ups and downs, together or not. That's the Snarry, my friend. And there's certainly more to Colin than meets the eye, but that's all I'm gonna say!