Warnings: Adult language!

Severus handed a cup of tea to Harry before he sat down on his chair across from the young wizard. "Before we continue, I want to check something. I don't want to make the mistake of assuming something just to get proved wrong later (call that perfectionism if you like)." He gazed at Harry over the brim of his mug as he sipped carefully. Then he lowered his hand again. "Which part is it that you are intrigued by? Top or bottom?"

"Top or bottom, sir?" Harry looked rather confused. "As in who is…"

Severus smirked. "No, not as in who is fucking who. If a male submissive is tied to the bed and gets used as a sex toy by the Top, there is still no doubt about who is in charge even if he or she gets penetrated. Top in this case would be the dominant part and bottom the submissive one. I tend to disagree with the terms 'active' or 'passive' as the Top can be quite passive and still be in control whereas a bottom can be very active and still be the bottom."

Severus took another sip from his cup. "Back to my question, Potter. Which one is your interest?" He watched Harry blush before he answered that he would be interested in the submissive part.

Severus nodded. "As I have thought."

"Can I ask a question, sir?"

"I have witnessed on many occasions that you have mastered the ability to form a question, however, yes you may," Severus countered mockingly.

Harry frowned at him for a moment but then his curiosity took over. "Are you… what are you, sir? I never actually asked but I always ho-" Harry looked up with wide eyes and swallowed. "I assumed that you are a Top," he added quickly.

Severus smirked. Of course he had noticed that nearly slip. "You have hoped right." His smirk deepened as Harry's blush increased but didn't get into it. "I started my training as a bottom though."

.

Harry perked up. "You did?" He could hardly believe that. He couldn't imagine Snape submitting to anyone.

Snape's gaze rested on Harry for quite a while, almost making Harry feel uncomfortable in its intensity.

"Don't think I don't know about the deep craving of not having to be in control for a change. And at the same time struggling to really let go."

Harry's chin dropped. That sounded exactly like he felt sometimes.

"It has been a long time though since I submitted to anyone. And I don't count the time when I was playing the role of being a devoted servant of Voldemort."

Harry watched Snape taking another sip of tea still puzzled about the confession he had heard. But his mentor kept talking.

"However, that is not what I wanted to talk about today. I just wanted to make sure that my assumption was right."

Harry nodded.

"Do you remember what I told you the last time? The three things, which are very important in relation to BDSM?" Snape wanted to know.

Of course Harry knew. He had repeated them over and over again. "Trust, honesty and communication."

Snape nodded. "Right. Those three are the one pole of the construction of BDSM as I see it. The other three for the second pole are safe, sane and consensual. Actually all three of them explain themselves quite clearly but I want to say a few things however."

Harry hung on every word Snape said and waited impatiently while his teacher put his mug aside. He himself had forgotten all about the tea that he had in his hand.

"Consensual." Snape said and looked at Harry. "Why did I pick this one first?"

Harry thought about an answer. "Because it's important that both have agreed to play with one another?"

Snape nodded. "You are right. If it's not consensual it's abuse. Remember that, Harry. As you have said, both or more partner involved have agreed to play with one another. They have probably talked about a certain setting and about limits or things that don't go at all. That's where the communication comes in. They trust that the other one will respect their boundaries and not mean them any harm. Use your common sense and your gut feeling before you play with someone. If something inside of you tells you that this might not be a good partner or not a scene that you want to be a part of, then listen to yourself. You might just need to get to know the person better or learn more about what's involved in the setting. Or you might decide that you don't want to play with the person at all. For whatever reason it might be. A good and sensitive Top will accept that. You might be questioned, but should not be pushed or forced into something that you don't want – as far as the negotiation goes." Snape added with a smirk. "Testing boundaries in a play is something different. But that's for later."

Harry watched Snape refilling his mug and his mind wandered of to think about limits that could be pushed in a play. But Snape had his attention back with asking him if he had any questions so far.

And even though Harry's mind was racing with all the information he had gotten, he couldn't grasp a certain thought to form a question.

"Not for now, sir."

Snape nodded. "As you might have noticed, you can't really explain safe, sane and consensual without mentioning trust, honesty and communication."

Harry nodded thoughtfully thinking back to what Snape had said before. "It's like they're all determine each other somehow. Like they are connected. You know what I mean?"

.

Severus looked at Harry and smiled lightly. "Exactly." He was pleased that Harry not only seemed to be ingenuously interested but also really thought about the things Severus was telling him. And it was actually pleasant to talk with Harry about a topic that both of them were interested in even though Harry had no experience with it.

"Let's move to the next one, which would be 'sane'. Well, obviously sane is the opposite from insane." Severus chuckled and Harry grinned.

"And it plainly translates into: use your brain before you get into situations that you can't handle anymore. Of course sane is linked to safe. As I said before, get to know the people you are playing with. Talk, talk and talk some more. Don't jump at someone just because you are needy or think you might not get someone else to play with." Severus made it a point to stop here and fix Harry with his eyes. He certainly wouldn't tell Harry right now that there were also other possibilities, like for example 'risk aware' plays. That was advanced knowledge for people who had more experience and he saw no point in confusing Harry in this state of his education. "That's insane and not safe. But safe does also mean something else. Don't try stuff like flogging, caning or even more so cutting if you don't have experience with it. Let someone show it to you. You can seriously harm people if you don't know what you do. This is of course more for the new Tops out there or the ones trying something new. Safe also means that the bottom has to inform the Top if they have some kind of physical limitations, like for example low blood pressure, a slipped disk or if they know that there is something that will surely trigger bad memories. The Top needs to know such things to keep the bottom safe. It is the responsibility of a Top to keep the bottom and him or herself as safe (and sane) as possible."

Severus leaned back in his chair after his lecture. He looked over to the clock on the mantelpiece and was surprised to see that their time was already over again. He was just about to tell Harry that it was time to leave when the young wizard spoke.

"You take this responsibility very serious."

Severus returned Harry's gaze. "Yes, I do. Does that surprise you?"

Harry shook his head. "I might not have realised that there is so much responsibility involved but I am not surprised about you taking it serious. It was actually not a question, I was just saying it."

Severus nodded. "We will speak more the next time. It is time for you to leave. If you have any questions you might want to write them down."

Harry got up and nodded. "Good night, sir. And thank you. I'm really grateful that you agreed to be my mentor."

"You are welcome." Severus watched Harry head towards the door and then remembered something. "One more thing, Harry. I've heard that you want to take up DADA again?"

The young wizard turned back to face Severus. "Yes, sir. There are quite a few people who would really appreciate the get some extra lessons before the exams."

"You mean all the others who haven't been a part of the DA?" Severus asked with a smirk.

Harry laughed. "No, actually not, sir. At least I haven't heard from any Slytherins who wanted to join us."

"They would rather fail their exams then being instructed by you. However, the Headmistress told me about this and I was wondering if you would be interested in doing the class with me?"

"That would be excellent!" Harry replied his face beaming with excitement. Then he laughed. "And this way it wouldn't be my fault if they get lousy grades for their shield-charms."

Severus arched his eyebrow in a questioning manner. "You are not telling me that you still haven't got it under control, are you?"

Harry shrugged his shoulder. "I haven't been practising it anymore since the war is over."

Severus other eyebrow shot up as well. "Don't you think that's a little careless?"

It was the first time that Severus saw Harry actually smirk. "Nobody came even close to hexing me seriously since we don't duel anymore."

Severus smirked right back. "Is that a challenge, Mr Potter?"

Harry bowed lightly. "I would be honoured to duel with you again, sir."

"We'll see about it. There will be practice every Sunday afternoon. I will make sure that there will be notes in all the common rooms."

"Great!"

"It will also give you an excuse to be here since we will have to prepare lessons together." Severus slyly added.

Harry grinned. "Good night, sir," the young Gryffindor said and was gone.

tbc

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