Chapter Nine : The Truce

Later than evening, Snape approached the boy. No Harry, he decided. Thinking about Harry being a boy, not a man of 18 years age is disconcerting. Maybe Minerva was right – it was time for him to challenge his thinking and stop being so damn predictable.

"What do you want?' Harry challenged resentfully.

"I would like to talk," Harry scoffed.

"You mean yell at me?"

"Do not make this harder," the older man said through gritted teeth. "Harry we cannot hate each other forever."

"Can't we?" Harry sighed. "I know," he eventually admitted.

"I'm proposing a truce,"

"A truce?" Harry considered it. "Does that mean you'll stop picking on the Gryffindors?" It was Snapes turn to sigh, change wasn't as easy as he thought.

"I will try," Harry smiled and extended a hand.

"A truce then?" They shook hands, even though Severus hated the Muggle way for showing agreement, he was finally appreciating the spirit of compromise.

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No one expected such a shift in Severus Snape's mood, not even Professor McGonagall who had bourne witness to nineteen years of the mans behaviour. If her sources were right (and they always were, one of the advantages of being an animagus cat with a special relationship with the mice of Hogwarts castle) then it indicated Severus and the boy had called a truce. She smirked at the prospect of Severus having to admit he was wrong.

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Harry couldn't help but to wonder how long the truce would last. He wanted to think that they might at least be friendly towards each other in time, but he severely doubted it. Severus was nice to him in the morning, almost pleasant. He was surprised when Severus suggested he start thinking of somewhere to spend the coming weekend - Harry hadn't thought that they'd be leaving. Even more surprising was Severus asking Harry for help brewing potions for Madame Pomfrey's stores. He didn't care to remind Severus of his incompetence and agreed thinking it might not be that bad. In any case, he had a truce to keep.

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The weekend wasn't far away, as a matter of fact, according to Harry it was precisely 13 hours away and he had not a clue of where they should go. He couldn't imagine Severus lying on a beach and nor did Harry particularly want to see him in bathers. So that definitely ruled out somewhere nice. Having a though, he decided to go to the room of requirement and have a go.
I need to find somewhere Severus would like to go on Holiday. Harry thought pacing back and forth until the doorhandle appeared.

He opened it (slightly apprehensively) and found himself in a room slightly larger than their dungeon room. It had a large crackling fire, a low coffee table stacked with books and a dresser with a photo frame on top of it. So he wants something exactly like what he's got at home Harry decided. But what was different? He walked towards the photoframe, that was something the Dungeons had, Harry didn't even think that Severus kept photo's, if he did, Harry hadn't seen them yet. He caught his breath. The photo was of Harry and Severus kissing. Oh, Harry thought in shock. I never thought.. Severus would like for me to kiss him? I mean. He sighed and sunk down onto the lounge. Harry had never thought about kissing Severus, he'd never thought about anything with Severus. He knew that mentally he thought Severus was still his professor and a slight blush crept over his cheeks at the thought of giving Severus a kiss and he didn't even want to entertain the way his body felt about touching Severus. He left the room. It hadn't told him where to take Severus, but at least now he had a fair idea of what Severus wanted.

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Harry still had a couple of hours to decide what to do with the information. Luckily Gryffindor House was having a quiet day with nothing more than a detention from Transfiguration to deal with. He entertained being bold and just asking Severus about why he wanted to kiss him but in the end, decided to be a bit sly about it. Even if he might have wanted Snape to kiss him, he knew that he wouldn't get it with Gryffindor bravery. And he was courageous, but not courageous enough to instigate the kiss himself. He didn't even know why he wanted to kiss Severus. The nasty voice was silent, so Harry was left alone to deal with his raging emotions and to wonder why on earth Ron and Hermione hadn't owled him back.

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"Have you thought about where you would like to go Harry?" Severus asked at dinner time.
"Yes I have,"
"Excellent, where would you like to go?"
"I don't know," Harry sighed. "I'd like you to choose,"
"Then we shall have a quiet weekend in the Dungeons," Severus said, not sounding all too disappointed. "You will choose next week," Harry knew that Severus had wanted him to choose, but he honestly had no idea of where to go, he could hardly take Severus to Grimmauld Place, nor could he take him to Godric's Hollow. They finished their dinner and walked down to the Dungeons, Harry still scheming to find some way to get Snape to kiss him.

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The Prince Cottage would be perfect, Severus knew, but Harry was stuck up in his office supervising a detention. He smirked, his Slytherin mind coming to a conclusion, he left to pack.

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"Bastabus," he snapped entering the room. He noticed Harry's look of apprehension and tried not to smirk. "This detention is over," the boy shuffled to pack away his books. "And if hear that you were left off detention early, you shall suffer my ... displeasure," the boy all but ran from the room. Harry did not, he approached Severus with something of a smile playing his face.

"You want something Severus?" he asked charmingly.
"Prince Cottage?" Harry nodded and they approached the fire to floo there, after Severus reassured Harry that he'd already packed.

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A/N : Work was busy today, so I didn't get to write as much. I'm probably aiming for daily updates from now on. Thanks for reading, and if you liked it, review it!