Severus had assumed that Harry's suspension would give him a much deserved break and a chance to enjoy coming to work like the old days. But there's a saying they have for people who assume. So now, on the rare occasions when he was not glaring at his phone, he was investigating each and every one of his employees to figure out which one of them was foolish enough to slip Harry Severus's phone number, which was only given out to the privileged few.

did u listen to the song i showed u

Severus groaned. There was something off about their balance sheet, but he needed to focus to determine what the issue was. But focus was near impossible to achieve these days what with the incessant vibrating coming from his phone.

at work

His phone buzzed not a second later.

perfect tim listen 2 music then

Severus groaned again. He did not have time for these distractions, and each day was something even more annoying. Yesterday it had been links to videos of people falling off skateboards, breaking trampolines, and colliding into each other on ski slopes. Severus hadn't laughed. They weren't funny. They were a waste of his time. He shuddered to think of what tomorrow would bring.

at work

In a sense, he only had himself to blame. He should have just left Harry's messages unread from the very beginning like he had intended. But it was two days into the Text Hurricane Potter when Filch finally managed to pull up the footage of the fight. Severus had sat in the back room with the older man and watched how Draco, the blond, entered the store with a posh girl on his arm. They spent the first three minutes pretending to browse through the men's clothing section but clearly had no intentions of buying anything. It was easy to tell by the way they would bend over and cover the mouths, a poor attempt to hide their snickers. At some point in time, Ron approached them, presumably to ask if they needed help. Draco said something, which caused Ron to turn red and the girl to start chuckling. The two boys went back and forth for a bit, and Harry walked up to them a moment after Draco pulled out his wallet and waved some money at Ron's face. Draco and Harry exchanged some words, and the next thing you know, Harry's shoving Draco into a clothes rack. The fighting ensued from there. Absolutely ridiculous.

Because of Harry's rash actions, Fawkes almost ended up with a lawsuit on their hands, something the store would not have had the money to fight. The store would have been closed, and everyone would have been looking for a new job. It all could have been avoided if Harry had gone to Albus or Filch. He could have even approached Severus as the store's manager. That would have saved Severus from the two hour meeting with Draco where Severus had to shove his pride down his throat, plead with a nineteen year old to not report the incident to his father's lawyer, and offer him a two hundred dollar gift certificate to keep his mouth shut. But no, the boy had to take things into his own hands and ruin everything.

So in a moment of weakness, he had texted Harry back to give a detailed explanation of how stupid he was and how the situation should have been handled differently. (But mostly he just called Harry stupid.) Instead of being offended or contrite like a normal person, Harry took the five paragraphs as a sign that they were now best buddies. The text messages hadn't stopped since, and Harry had started a habit of calling to "see if he was okay" if Severus failed to reply in a timely fashion.

They were on day ten, and Severus thought he was going to slowly lose his mind. But anyone would after the fifth One Direction video, right?

its only 3 mins sev come on

Yeah, that was a new thing Harry had picked up. When Severus demanded he stop, Harry had argued that it was easier to type. When Severus told him he didn't fucking care, he claimed that he had typed the nickname so often that his phone now autocorrected "Severus" to "Sev" and it was too much of a hassle to correct it every time. All Severus could do was hope that the boy would be just as lazy when he came back to work, giving Severus the perfect excuse to fire him.

not now

Severus was granted all of three minutes without interruptions before his phone flashed another message from Harry. He sighed. How had this become his life?

wat r u doin now

at work

come on sev listen to it u kno u want 2

don't you have FRIENDS you should be talking to?

I'm hurt :( aren't we amigos?

Gritting his teeth, Severus wondered (not for the first time) if he had made a mistake by letting Harry off so easily. Harry was just joking, but this only reminded him of the reason why he refused to respond to Harry's texts for the first two days. There needed to be a clear line between them. They weren't friends and never could be – not that Severus wanted anything different. It just made things at work complicated if Harry had delusions that they were anything more than employer and employee, and it was past time that he made that clear.

no we're manager and employee. you shouldn't even have my number.

Severus didn't get any texts after that, but it's not like he lost any sleep over it.

It wasn't awkward running into Harry by Albus's door, but it wasn't what he would call a pleasant experience either.

"Ah, I see you're back, Mr. Potter," he drawled. He had known that today was the day Harry's suspension ended, but he still found himself caught off guard. Had it really been fourteen days already?

"Yes, sir," was the curt reply.

"I assume Albus talked to you about our store's policy on violence and told you what would happen if you pulled a stunt like that again."

"Yes, sir," he repeated. "And I would like to apologize for any trouble my actions may have caused you and thank you again for giving me a second chance."

Severus wrinkled his nose, uncomfortable with how stiff Harry's words had been. Even his posture was rigid, his back straight and his arms tight against his sides. In fact, Harry wasn't even looking directly at him but rather at a point just above his shoulder.

"Yes, well see that I don't regret that decision."

"You won't, sir. Now, if you don't mind, Albus asked me to sort the sale jewelry," he said with a tiny bow before he skirted past Severus.

Severus only stared after him for a moment before opening the door to Albus's office.

"It's nice to see you this morning. Did you have the chance to welcome Harry back?" the older man asked from behind his desk.

Severus rolled his eyes and sat in the chair Albus gestured at. "We ran into each other outside and exchanged a few words," he answered, frowning when his boss laughed.

"Is that all, my boy? I thought you two were friends now."

Freezing, Severus tried to think of what all Harry could have told Albus. Severus had never explicitly told the boy to keep their chats private; their conversations were never inappropriate, but he felt uncomfortable at the thought that Albus might know that he his favorite Avenger was Tony Stark or whatever other piece of trivia he could garner from their texts.

"Severus, dear boy, are you quite alright? You look unwell."

He quickly dismissed the look of concern. "I'm fine. I'm just puzzled as to why you thought Harry and I were friends."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Letting Harry off with a suspension was nothing short of an act of kindness from you, Severus. I had assumed that all of my hints had finally gotten through and that you two had finally sorted things out. Was I mistaken?"

"I was merely assessing the situation as a manager. As you've pointed out several times before, Harry has proven to be a valuable asset to our store, and it seemed unwise to terminate him due to one reckless attempt to stand up for his friend's honor. Don't get me wrong. I don't approve of his actions, and I will not hesitate to fire him if he shows any sign of slacking off or mistreating our customers. But my decision to suspend him was nothing more than the result of a simple benefit-cost analysis."

"Is that so?" Albus questioned, his tone hard to read.

"You saw the video, did you not?"

"Yes, I saw it. Harry said that Draco was saying some untoward things about the store and the employees here, and he felt the need to defend them. He claimed that things escalated before he realized it, but he seemed genuinely regretful for taking things too far."

Severus nodded. "I'm glad to hear that."

Albus hummed. "I'm just surprised that you two aren't on better terms since he left."

Severus didn't follow. "Better terms?"

"Didn't Harry call you? I gave him your number before he left."

He must have misheard Albus. "What did you say?"

"The same day he was suspended he called the store before closing and said he felt like he hadn't thanked you enough, so Neville tried to transfer the call to your office. When you didn't pick up, Neville transferred the call to me, and I just thought it would be easier if I gave him your cell phone number so that he could contact you directly. I had hoped that hearing his heartfelt apology would have smoothed things out between the two of you. But if he never called you..."

Severus knew Albus well enough to know that there was more behind that story, but he also knew that Albus wouldn't admit to anything.

"No, he never called," he said truthfully.

"How odd." He waited for a moment as if he expected Severus to say more. When he didn't (and why should he when Albus is out there giving his phone number out like pieces of candy), Albus sighed and moved on. "Nevertheless, I hope you know that he really appreciates what you did."

"Wonderful."

Albus nodded as if he hadn't picked up on the sarcasm. "His foster parents may have abandoned him, and we know he's made bad decisions in the past, but it's encouraging to see that he hasn't let that stop him from following his dreams. He told me this very morning that he only needed two thousand more dollars until he could cover his first semester of classes. He'll make that much in a matter of months working here, but it would have been impossible if you had fired him that day. So I'm proud of you for putting your feelings towards Harry aside and deciding to give Harry a second chance. He truly does deserve it."

Severus didn't know what to say. The last time he'd seen Albus look like that was actually during their first meeting when Albus had sat next to him at some local pub, listened to his drunken wallowing, and offered him a job at the end of the night.

"You two really do have a lot in common," Albus continued. Severus wondered if he too was thinking about that night. "I only wish you'd take the time to get to know each other better."

Albus could be manipulative when he wanted to be.

"I'll try," Severus offered as he stood up to leave.

Albus just smiled.

"Well, you managed to last one week without any physical altercations. I must admit that I'm amazed," Severus said, walking up to the checkout counter.

"I will do my best to continue to exceed your expectations," Harry replied mechanically. No one was waiting in line, but he was clicking away at something on the cash register.

"My expectations for you are fairly low, so that shouldn't take much work."

"I see."

The corner of Severus's moth twitched. Here he was trying to start a conversation, and of course the boy had to be needlessly difficult about the whole thing.

"Potter, what are you even doing with that machine anyways?"

For the first time, Harry stopped what he was doing and raised his eyes to meet Severus's. "I am working, sir; however, I can stop doing what I am doing if you need help with something.

Severus didn't really know how to proceed seeing as how his attempts at small talk hadn't gone over as planned. It was probably best to just cut straight to the chase. "Albus says I need to be friendlier to you."

"Well, you should have told Albus that employers and employees aren't meant to be friendly," he replied tartly, resuming his game of playing Whack-a-Mole with the cash register.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Oh, no. Did I hurt your little feelings, Harry?" he mocked, watching as Harry's fingers stilled once more.

"You know what? Fuck you, Severus. You're the one who said we couldn't be friends, so don't think you can just change the rules whenever you want, and I'll just follow along."

"No one said we had to be friends, Potter," he hissed, masking the hidden jolt of pleasure he felt from finally cracking Harry's shell. "But you haven't exactly been subtle about ignoring me, and now Albus is on my case because he things I'm 'bullying' you again."

Harry remained silent, and Severus was getting fed up. Between dodging Albus's disappointed looks and purposely ignoring his questions about whether or not he'd talked to Harry yet, Severus really didn't have the patience to be dealing with Harry and his attitude.

"This really is ridiculous, Potter. Getting this upset over one text message is nothing but childish."

Harry shook his head in anger. "Whatever, Severus."

"Fine! You can keep texting me! Feel better now?"

"No, it doesn't because I actually don't want to text you anymore."

This is exactly what he was talking about. Childish.

"What do you want, Potter?" he snarled before he gave in to his urge to pull his hair out…or throttle Harry. Either one would work.

"If you want me to act like we're on good terms in front of Albus, you're going to have to do something for me in exchange."

He snorted. "Shoplifting and extortion. Boy do you have a bright future ahead of you."