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Hufflepuff Auction Prompt: Day 30, Auction 4: "I just pray to the *fucking gods that one day you'll forgive me."
Word Count: 407
Tell Me Something New
Severus sat beside the bed, watching the young man sleeping. He'd tucked a blanket over him, and he could feel his own magic lying all over the place, the protective wards enough that he could leave without worrying about his safety.
It was still hard to tear himself away.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Severus whispered, leaning over to press a kiss to his temple. "I just… pray to the gods that one day you'll forgive me."
He left the shack the two had holed up in, and Apparated away.
…
"You left me," Harry accused, though his tone was soft.
Severus was lying in a hospital bed, still wondering how in the hell he'd survived at all, but he nodded at Harry's words anyway.
He had left him, hadn't he? After spending an unadvised few hours with the young man who could get under his skin like none other, he'd run with his tail between his legs because he couldn't be away from the school for too long without arousing suspicion.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Harry asked then, and Severus winced at the question.
Still, he owed him the truth if nothing else.
"Had I waited until you'd woken, I'd never have left," he murmured.
His voice was raspy from Nagini's bite, but given Severus had thought that had been the end of him, he supposed he couldn't truly complain.
"You… it wasn't just a… a whim?" Harry asked, flushing furiously as he looked down at his hands.
"No."
Harry looked up to meet his eyes, shining emerald meeting the darkest of browns.
"Good."
…
"You know—"
"If you're about to tell me that I deserve better, I'm going to punch you," Harry said, not looking up from the book he'd been reading. He was, once again, sitting beside Severus' hospital bed, as he'd been every time Severus woke up over the last week and a half.
"I was actually going to tell you that you should go out and enjoy the sun," Severus replied flatly, though he'd been about to say no such thing. Harry had nailed it on the head, and the look he gave Severus said that he knew it.
"I'm old enough—mentally, Severus, don't look at me like that—to know what I want."
Severus sighed. "I suppose you are. I still think you're being ridiculous."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Tell me something new, why don't you?"
Severus snorted his amusement. "Brat."
"Git."
