Tallis has a few more juvenile (for lack of a better word) moments in this chapter. Sometimes a 17 year old needs to be a 17 year old. He is mature far beyond his years but he still needs to have a few moments of being a kid. At least I think so.
I see Draco as a good person for him to truly be a kid around. All the time that Ron has known him (my Harry at least) he has been dealing with incredibly heavy, adult issues. Even when they try to forget them and be kids the issues are still very much there. Here, Harry finally has someone he can trust and be friends with who doesn't yet know about his past. I believe it would be easier for him to let go and be a kid a bit. Plus, it helps having a boyfriend who still appreciates adolescent humor (mine certainly does!).
Enjoy!
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Chapter 30Tallis and his father sat at the small table in their kitchen, eating breakfast quietly. Their comfortable silence was broken by someone knocking on the door. Tallis looked up, startled. "That's Draco again. I forgot to tell you he was coming by this morning." Tallis started to stand up to go get a shirt but Severus waved him back down. "Don't worry about it. He'll see them soon enough, I'm sure. Continue your breakfast. You're still too thin." He walked away to let Draco in while Tallis smiled and stood to refill his coffee cup at the counter. As much as it had annoyed him when his friends pestered him to eat more he liked it when his Father did so. He liked having a parent who cared whether he ate or not and who actually noticed how much he had consumed. Under his Father's watchful eye, Tallis had gained almost a full stone over the holiday, filling him out quite nicely for his size.
He had just finished refilling his cup when Draco entered the kitchen. "Good gods" he let out in a strangled whisper. Tallis turned at the sound and saw Draco standing in the doorway.
"Good morning, Draco" he said as if nothing was amiss, leaning back against the counter and sipping his freshly made coffee. He watched Draco in amusement as Draco tried to take all of his tattoos in at once. He knew it must be shocking to most people. He himself hardly noticed them anymore. He wasn't entirely certain how his Father and friends saw him anymore but he suspected that they no longer found the tattoos startling or even particularly noteworthy on most occasions.
Draco stared at the heavily tattooed boy, slowly taking it all in. Tallis' tattoos were largely in shades of gray and black with only a few flashes of color. The large phoenix on his lower back was done entirely in deep reds and golds but no other tattoo was as colorful as that one. The tattoos stood out starkly on his lithe, tan body.
Draco couldn't seem to collect himself enough to do anything but stare. Severus prodded him over to the table to take a seat while Tallis regained his own seat and took another piece of toast, spreading a ridiculously thick layer of jam on it just how he liked it. Finally, Draco was able to talk again. "A few tattoos? Merlin's balls! How did you get so many? You're only a year older than me, aren't you?"
"Yes. I like tattoos" Tallis said simply. He hadn't quite come up with a more thorough or convincing reason for the number of tattoos he had aside from the truth which he was not ready to reveal yet. He decided to go with a rather weak statement of generally liking body art.
"But how did you get so many so quickly? You're only a year older than me, aren't you?"
"Father allowed me to go get my first one when I was 14" Tallis said, quickly supplying the story that he and his Father had fabricated earlier. "I got them pretty regularly after that." The time line barely worked with this new story. He was supposed to be 18 so that allowed four years to get the work done in, nearly one year faster than he had actually accomplished it. He might look marginally insane but it was still very possible.
"Merlin" Draco muttered again.
"How was breakfast?" Severus asked, trying to help his godson begin thinking properly again.
"Fine. Not much happened." He seemed fully recovered from his shock finally, and he slipped back into the conversation again. "Rumors are flying as to the true whereabouts of the Golden Boy. Is it true that he's dead?"
Severus choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken. "No, he is not dead. Where on earth did you hear that?"
"The Prophet printed as much. They made sure that it was clear that it was just a rumor but it was printed nonetheless. Frankly, I think that it was a rumor started solely by them to cause a mass panic and to sell more papers. What is really going on?"
"He is simply not returning to Hogwarts for a time, much as Dumbledore announced and I reiterated last night. And before you ask, no I have no idea where he has been moved. Dumbledore has not revealed that information to anyone and even if he were to reveal it I sincerely doubt that I would be at the top of his list of confidants."
Draco nodded. "I rather doubted it was true. I don't think the boy can die. Not to mention his sidekicks looked a bit down but they were certainly not devastated. I don't think those two could truly function without their boy hero. I'm not entirely certain what would happen in this war if Potter did die. I don't really want to imagine." He moved on to the true reason for his visit, not wanting to linger on his concerns for Harry Potter which felt very strange to him. He enjoyed teasing the boy and picking fights with him but he by no means cared about his general wellbeing. "Me and a few Slytherins were going to try to play a game of Quidditch if you want to join us Tallis."
Tallis looked up eagerly for a moment and then sighed. "I need to help my father get things ready for classes tomorrow. We have too much work."
Draco turned to Severus, his eyes pleading. "Can he come out with us if I come back and help him set up later?"
Severus agreed almost instantly. He knew that neither Draco nor Tallis had many friends and both wanted more. Draco was for the large part surrounded by imbeciles and flatterers who wanted his wealth and power and he knew it. Tallis was scared to trust easily but he seemed to take Severus at his word that Draco was trustworthy. It would do both boys good to spend a bit of time together. He also dearly wanted the two to become friends so that he would no longer have to separate the two brightest spots in his life. He nodded his agreement.
Tallis raced off to dress and grab his new broom. His father had ordered him one a few weeks ago, knowing that his old broom was too well known for him to ever disguise it well enough. The broom that Sirius had given him was safely locked away with his other Harry Potter memorabilia at the manor. He emerged almost immediately, still flushed from dressing so quickly. He wore a pair of loose cargo pants that were tied low on his hips and a tight white ribbed tank top. He carried a long sleeved hooded sweatshirt in his hands along with his broom. Tallis grabbed a spare tie from the table to pull his hair back into a ponytail. "I'm ready, are you?" he eagerly asked Draco. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to fly this summer—they had been too busy with everything else that was going on for him to take time to play.
"Be careful," Severus said firmly. Tallis locked eyes with him for a moment, understanding all that he needed to be careful of. His Father, of course, wanted him to be physiclly safe but he also needed to be careful to not reveal that he was Harry Potter.
"I will," he said. He knew that he needed to take this seriously. He didn't want to be exposed on his first full day here just because he went for a quick fly around the field.
The two boys left to go to the Slytherin dorms for Draco to grab his broom. Tallis pulled on his sweatshirt as he went, feeling chilled in the damp hallways. When they entered the common room everyone looked up in surprise to see their Head of House's son. Tallis tried to ignore their stares and followed Draco to the seventh year boy's room to get his broom. They headed back down to go to the pitch where the rest of those who wanted to play were already waiting. Most of the students who had earlier decided to stay in the common room changed their minds and followed them out. They wanted to see the new Snape play.
Tallis was greeted eagerly by those who were playing and they quickly divided into teams. He and Draco were both chasers on the same team. It had been decided that they would play without seekers, instead limiting their game to the other positions. Tallis stripped off his sweatshirt to get ready to play. Gasps were barely muffled all around him as the students saw his tattoos. He and Draco ignored them though and instead mounted their brooms to take a quick lap. Draco may have been just as floored as his classmates were when he had first seen the tattoos but he would never let on to such a thing in public. He presented his typically composed face to the world, even his fellow Slytherins, acting as if there was nothing remotely unusual about his companion. The other Slytherins quickly began to imitate Draco's composure and gained the air as well and a quick game was begun.
Tallis flew well but he held back quite a bit, wary of being discovered through his flying even without his trademark broom. He hoped that by switching to another position that was so different from his own that he would help to disguise himself. No one beside the Weasleys had ever seen Harry Potter play as a Chaser. He made no deep dives and generally tried to fly as simply an adequate flyer. Even with holding back on any breathtaking moves though he was still a marvel to watch. His grace and ease in the air was obvious to everyone. It was very clear that the small boy belonged in the air.
The teams had been well formed and the game was close. Finally, Tallis and Draco's team pulled ahead by a bit. The two young men played remarkably well together, often able to almost read the other's mind when trying to score a goal. They reached the 200 point mark which had earlier been set as the winning goal. Everyone flew down, exhausted but happy. Many of the Slytherins were impressed by Tallis' abilities, especially with how accurate he was with the Quaffle, but he brushed their compliments aside. The Slytherins decided to stay outside and chat for a while but Tallis and Draco headed in to keep their promise to the Potions Master.
They found him hard at work in the classroom organizing his syllabi into three stacks: one for Tallis, one for both of them to use depending on who was teaching that particular day, and one for himself. He greeted the boys as they set their brooms in the corner. "What do you need us to do?" Tallis asked.
"I thought you could both reorganize the supply storeroom, if you don't mind."
"Certainly. Do you want it how it is at home?" Tallis asked, already engrossed in his task.
"That would be good."
"I can't remember exactly how everything is at Snape Manor" Draco said softly to Tallis as they walked toward the large supply cupboard. "I haven't made a potion there in years, probably since before I started at Hogwarts."
"Father and I rearranged the ingredients this summer so you wouldn't have ever seen it the way it is now. Don't worry. We'll work together. It doesn't need to be exact, just so long as it all makes sense to the students for how to find their ingredients."
"Alphabetical order makes the most sense to me" Draco said, trying to imagine what could possibly be easier for the students.
"In some ways, yes, but I prefer something like the manor's labs. There we have it all arranged by family, so that all of the natural poisons are together, all natural fauna is together, magical creatures and so on. It also will serve as a learning tool for the students if they first have to figure out what something is rather than just searching for a potentially meaningless word. I know the upper years won't really benefit from it much but the younger years will—especially the muggleborns. They've never heard of most of these things so it will help them to understand potions a bit better if they understand where their ingredients come from."
Draco looked down at Tallis in amazement. "Wow. I never thought about a stockroom being a lesson before. I guess it really can be. Are you excited to start teaching?"
"A bit nervous, really. Father assures me I'll be fine. I don't know, I've never officially taught anyone before."
"It's only first years. If you mess up they'll never know."
Tallis laughed lightly. "That's true."
"What are you doing your first lesson on?"
"Just general lab safety first off. I might go ahead and introduce them to the potions stockroom and tell them a bit about the major families of ingredients. I'm not too sure: I haven't looked over my father's syllabus yet. What did he do your first year?"
"Hmm? Oh, blew in here like a great bat and started hissing about the great beauty and art of potion making. No one had any clue what he was talking about. It was great," Draco said with a grin.
Tallis smirked. "Yes, I can see that. He does tend to talk over everyone quite a bit. He has a hard time realizing that not everyone finds potions as simple as he does. I'm sure he does better with the upper years. He seemed outright relieved to pass off the young ones to me."
They heard a light knock at the door and Bill stuck his head in, taking in the sight of the two boys surrounded by endless jars of ingredients. They had taken most of the ingredients off the shelves in preparation for reorganizing them and had not yet started to re-shelve any of them. "Hard at work, I see."
Tallis gave a delighted whoop and ran over to kiss his boyfriend. "I wasn't expecting you 'til later! I thought you were busy all day helping Molly around the house."
"We ended earlier than expected. The twins dropped by and ended up staying to help."
Tallis realized that he had not yet introduced Draco. "Oh, I'm sorry. Have you met Draco Malfoy?" Tallis asked, knowing full well that he had but also knowing that as Tallis Snape he shouldn't know that.
"Yes, a long time ago. How are you doing, Draco?" he asked kindly.
Draco collected himself quickly despite the shock that a Weasley was being so friendly with him. "Very well. You, Weasley?"
"Please call me Bill. There are entirely too many Weasleys to continue to use our last name."
Draco smirked at this statement. It was entirely true but he was used to Ron throwing a fit whenever he mentioned the large amount of Weasleys so Bill's easy acceptance was refreshing. "Of course. I'd tell you to call me Draco but it seems that you already do."
"Ah, yes, well I've heard Tallis and Severus speak of you so often that it never occurred to me to call you anything else. Sorry" he said, blushing lightly. He truly had gotten used to hearing the young Malfoy heir referred to by his first name and he never gave it a second thought when he greeted him.
"How are you coming along?" Severus called from his desk. "You'd better be working and not snogging!"
"Draco's in here with us!" Tallis yelled back, clearly scandalized at his father's suggestion that he would make out with his boyfriend in the Slytherin's presence. Draco snorted with laughter and Bill joined in, more so because he knew that had Draco not been present that they would have been making out.
"I'd better start helping you before he kicks me out. I swear, the second I step back into this classroom that man forgets that I am 28 and thinks I'm 11 again," Bill said, bending over to pick up some ingredients. The three worked quickly once Bill understood what Tallis was trying to do. He often had to stop to check what section an ingredient belonged in but Tallis patiently answered all of his questions.
They finally emerged, the room completely reorganized and their stomachs growling loudly. "Ready for a lunch break, Father?" Tallis asked.
"Is it time already? Yes, of course. Sorry, the time slipped away from me. Shall we all go back to our rooms?" They all nodded and followed Severus back to the Snape Family rooms. Tallis called a house elf to order some lunch for the four and they all settled down in the sitting room to wait for the sandwiches and drinks. The food appeared almost immediately and the boys all dug in eagerly, with Severus following with as much decorum as possible when eating with his hands in an overstuffed armchair.
"Can you stay the night tonight?" Tallis asked eagerly. He had gotten used to Bill sleeping beside him and found it difficult to sleep without his warm weight in the bed to help drive away the nightmares.
"Yes but I have to be at work by nine. Can I use the floo to leave in the morning or will I need to walk off the grounds and apparate?"
"You may use the floo," Severus said. "Has Tallis given you the password to our rooms yet?"
"Told me on our walk over here."
"If you give that to Weasley I'll gut you." Bill just laughed at Severus' idle threat. "Just because I allow one Gryffindor in my rooms doesn't mean I wish to open my home to all of the little brats."
Draco watched all of the interactions eagerly. He was fascinated by this new side of his godfather and by Tallis and Bill's relationship. They all seemed very comfortable around each other. Bill had clearly spent a large amount of time at the manor. After he had given it some more thought last night he had decided that he was pleased that his godfather had a son. It would almost be like having a brother. And, as much as it pained him to admit it, Bill Weasley wasn't too bad. Guess Sev was right after all.
"So, are you seeing anyone, Draco" Bill asked.
"Not at the moment, no. My father is trying to interest me in Pansy Parkinson but I promise you that'll never happen" he said with a shudder.
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Tallis asked, curious. Even as Harry Potter he had never really known Pansy very well. He knew she wasn't considered to be terribly attractive but other than that he knew nothing.
"She's hideous and her voice could drive even the Dark Lord himself to commit suicide in an effort to escape the screeching." Severus failed to suppress a snort at that statement. It was entirely true.
Nonetheless he felt the need to give at least a token stand for the girl. "That is not very kind, Draco" he said mildly.
"But it's true." Draco countered. "Not only that she is conniving and cruel. I could never date her, much less marry her."
"Is there anyone you are interested in?" Tallis asked, curious as to who could have caught the blond Slytherin's eye.
"Not really. There are a few cute Ravenclaw girls but no one I'm actively trying to get. There's a hot Gryffindor I was kind of interested in but I doubt it would work."
"Who?" Tallis asked, curious as to which Gryffindor it was.
"A sixth year, Ella O'Neill. She's not terribly smart but she has the most gorgeous legs I've ever seen, Gryffindor or not. I wouldn't mind having her for a while," he said, smirking.
"Is it really necessary to subject me to this juvenile locker room talk?" Severus asked dryly.
"This is hardly locker room talk, Sev. We can undoubtedly get dirty if you really want us to though," Draco said with a smirk.
Bill decided to get in the spirit of things. Not to mention he always enjoyed making Severus squirm. Talking about sex always made Severus squirm, especially if his son was present. "I once dated a guy who had a Prince Albert." At Severus' blank look Bill elaborated. "He had his dick pierced—"
"Hey! Locker room talk is supposed to be about girls!" Draco protested, clutching his legs together at the sheer thought of such a piercing.
"Um…I once kissed a girl" Tallis put in helpfully. He scrunched up his nose at the memory. "It was kind of gross though," he said as an afterthought. "I think I made her cry." Draco snorted loudly at that statement. Severus had to turn away to hide his smile but his shaking shoulders gave away his silent laughter.
"I once accidentally felt a girl up." Bill supplied.
"How do you accidentally feel a girl up?" Tallis asked, curious as to how such a thing could even happen. Draco simply shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing.
Bill blushed. "Well, I tripped over my bag, in the potions classroom, actually Severus, and fell into this poor Hufflepuff's chair. I tried to catch myself and accidentally…grabbed…um, her. So Severus actually witnessed my first and only sexual experience with a girl. Bet that makes you feel special, huh?"
Severus refused to even dignify that question with a grunt.
"Hmm…together we sort of make a straight guy, huh?"
"You two are hopeless" Draco muttered. "I really need some straight friends."
"Most of Bill's brothers are straight" Tallis put in helpfully.
Draco was saved from trying to form a response to that bit of information by his godfather's timely snarky comments. "Well, after that unnecessary and slightly disturbing insight into all of your sex lives, I believe we should return to work. Draco, thank you for your assistance this morning. You are welcome to join us again but there is no need for you to continue to put in hours. You've more than made up for depriving me of Tallis' assistance this morning."
"I'll come back for a bit more," Draco said, clearly enjoying his time with Tallis and Bill even if it meant doing extra work. Severus nodded and stood to walk back to the classroom. Tallis was put to work looking through the first and second year syllabi to see if he had any questions or if he wanted to rearrange any lessons. Draco and Bill were assigned to prepare a few potion ingredients to help out the upper years. Severus wanted them to make a potion on Monday that would take too much time if they also had to prepare everything. Draco had to repeatedly correct Bill's work but he persevered. The afternoon slipped away with idle chatter and soon everything was ready for classes to begin tomorrow.
They all went back to their rooms to clean up for dinner and then Draco returned to walk with them to dinner. Severus sent him back to his son's room to collect them for the evening meal. Draco overheard Tallis say to Bill "I suppose we need to at least make an appearance in the Great Hall for dinner." He sounded utterly dejected.
"It won't be that bad. You sit at the head table, right? They won't be able to touch you, don't worry. They'll just be looking at you. It's not their fault you're beautiful." He started covering Tallis' face in sloppy kisses making Tallis giggle helplessly.
"You're right, it'll be fine." Draco chose that moment to knock on the door, alerting them to his presence. His mind though, was running rampant with this new information. Why would Tallis be worried that people would touch him? Why would it matter so much?
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A/N: No lengthy Quidditch scene largely because those always bore me. I even skip the lovely JKR's when she writes them. It probably doesn't help that I generally dislike sports. Frankly, I don't understand the purpose of them. I'd rather spend my money to see a play or an opera any day. If you had been looking forward to long, drawn out Quidditch games, um…sorry.
Let me know what you think of Draco when he doesn't have to put on his Slytherin persona. I've always liked to assume that there is more to him than nastiness and a bad temper. Surely he acts differently in private. Mine does anyhow. Review!