Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Chapter 4: Reflections
Severus quietly watched the man who he had until recently, considered his worst enemy. He hadn't failed to notice the salacious look that had appeared in his eyes. The intensity of it turned his insides into liquid.
He had seen that look a lot lately, mainly due to lack of protection from the Aversionum potion.
"Well maybe he'd not seen looks quite that intense." He reasoned internally.
If he was completely honest with himself, really honest and he had been during these last few weeks, probably more so than he'd ever been in his entire life, he knew exactly why Sirius Black was looking at him like that.
At present, Severus Snape was longest living Adorable in living memory and the leading expert on the condition. He knew enough about the nature of his condition to know about the feelings he inspired in other people, when he was both medicated and unmedicated.
He knew that without taking Aversionum potion, people saw him for what he really was! He was the object of unparalleled affection and sexual attraction.
The potion made people dislike him. Its antithetical effect induced a wide range of feelings of aversion in people who encountered him. If a person's feelings towards him were lukewarm, neither caring or uncaring, this usually demonstrated that unmedicated, he and the other party would dislike each other. A small number of people were in fact immune to Adorables.
However, the stronger a person's aversion towards an Adorable using Aversionum potion, the opposite their true feelings they would be. These were not solely limited to feelings of a sexual/loving nature. A strong aversion to a medicated Adorable could be attributed to strong platonic feelings, like that of lifelong friendship.
But the sting in the tail was that Adorables mated for life. Once they committed to a life mate by the act of copulation, the decision was irreversible once made. So caution when choosing a partner was paramount.
This still continued to make Severus nervous but he was determined for this to happen after thirty five years of sheer misery. He had been starved of human affection for far too long. He was lonely! He wanted to find someone who would loved him body and soul and settle down with him.
He fucking well deserved that at least!
Severus thought about his feelings towards Sirius. The strength of their feelings bordered on violence meant one thing and one thing only. A deep and mutual love towards each other. But this far from guaranteed a lasting and permanent relationship and there was no fucking way on God's green earth that he was going to commit himself to a life time loving this heartless bastard.
The binding spell of commitment only worked one way, tying the Adorable to their partner for ever. The other was free to leave at anytime.
And let's face it; Sirius Black had the sexual attention span of that of his animagus, Snuffles.
Hell, he'd seen him action over the years. The smooth bastard had never had a relationship with anyone. He fucked whatever and whoever he liked and then discarded them without a second thought.
He was one of life's takers and Severus had no intention of subjecting himself to further misery.
No way, he would find himself a husband or wife to settle down with in contented bliss.
Like Sirius, he had inclinations towards both male and female.
Homosexuality and bisexuality were commonplace in witches and wizards and didn't carry the same social taboo as it did in muggle society. Same sex marriages occured with the same frequency that heterosexual marriages did and why not? Gay couples could even procreate together, producing genetic offspring with assistance of male pregnancy potions. He, himself had made a small fortune patenting one of the leading brands.
But that was by the by as Severus didn't really want to think about having children. The Aversionum potion did not affect the Adorable's personality and it was no secret that he wasn't particularly fond of children. Oh, he didn't mind teaching some of them at Hogwarts but the vast majority annoyed him. He was sure that it stemmed from being an only child and his childhood experiences. He would leave any child rearing to his chosen partner and dismissed it from his thoughts.
"Thank you Sirius, we have what we came for. Come along Severus or we shall miss our dinner." Dumbledore moved towards the blackened old fireplace.
"Don't forget you need to arrive at Hogwarts at least a week before the start of the new school year, my boy. You will need to familiarise yourself with the DADA curriculum and give yourself time to settle in." He added, almost as an afterthought and quickly disappeared in the grate in a puff of green smoke.
Severus looked at Sirius questioningly.
Sirius, had seemingly recovered from his apparent shock at the day's revelations, rose from the old rickety chair and approached him. He reminded Severus of a wild beast stalking his next meal.
"Didn't Dumbledore tell you Severus?"
"No, and you are more than welcome to it. Contrary to popular belief, I have, nor ever wanted that particular post. It was merely part of my cover. I've had my fill of the dark arts thank you very much." He replied nonplussed.
"Well, he asked me to fill the DADA post this year." He said silkily, walking around Snape as he spoke. "And frankly, that's not the only thing I plan to fill this year!"