Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books and/or movies is not mine.

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

A/N: I've decided to go back and forth between the boys point of views.

-GASP?!- Is Snape… a PERV?!

Someone actually asked me that in a reply and I was mildly shocked. Do you think that he's a pervert, just because he thinks Harry's.. er, attractive right off? Not that it matters to me - my friend likes it, so I'll just continue this way.

Also, eventually more people are going to show up in this story, and I'm thinking about putting up a poll for the ships that you guys like. Not too sure about that yet, because I'd have to rewrite a few things, but I want to make this story more reader friendly and possibly allow you guys to vote on the best couples for this story - discluding Severus/Harry, though. : D They're already set. So what do you guys think of this?

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

Mirage Me This

By: xScenex

Chapter Four

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

Harry didn't keep track of the time while showering. He waited until his skin felt like it would have blisters on it from the scolding water, and until he felt clean enough to be content.

He dried off and slipped his pants back on hurriedly and stuffed his piercings in his pockets. He barely even glanced at himself in the fogged up mirror before he glanced around for something else. He didn't have his shirt in the room with him, he realized, so with a reluctant sigh, he had to leave the warmth of the bathroom and go into the chill air of the hall. He shivered slightly and hugged his arms to his chest for warmth.

The whole place was pitch dark, and even though Harry tried to peer around, watching to make sure he wouldn't bump into anything, he couldn't see anything. Voldemort could be right in his face, and he wouldn't know it.

He wasn't even sure if his eyes were open anymore.

Harry fumbled along, his fingers trailing along across the peeling wallpaper, hoping he could find the room again. He didn't like that dark. It was too stifling.

After a few moments that seemed to last for forever, he found his way back to the room, surprised that he hadn't started hyperventilating. He knocked on the door softly.

"Come in," came the reply from inside.

He opened the door without second thought and walked inside quickly. It felt warmer in the bedroom, and Severus had turned on a lamp so that there was a dull yellow light filtering through the blackness.

"Where do you want this?" Harry asked of the boy after a moment when he got himself in check, holding up the used towel and bandages.

Without a word, Severus pointed to a corner that had a small basket. Harry awkwardly walked through the room, stepping over books and other objects. He tossed the stuff into the basket without much glance at the other contents and walked back over to the bed.

"Where's my shirt?"

Severus glanced up for a second before looking away. "You wouldn't want to wear it now. It's soaked and ripped, and barely worth being called a shirt anymore."

Harry was glad that there was no sneer in the response, but complete honesty. He just shrugged and sat down on the bed.

He figured it would be best to not act tense and unsure around the other boy. He figured it would make both of them uncomfortable. So he sat on the bed, leaning back on his elbows and stared around.

He was aware of Severus when he got up from the bed and wondered to the dresser on the far end of the room. The other dark haired boy rummaged through the contents in the first drawer before pulling out a long sleeved shirt that looked like it had been abandoned soon after being bought, plus a handful of more bandages.

He turned and tossed the shirt to Harry, who didn't even react to catch it.

"You can wear that," Severus intoned in the same quiet voice he'd used all night. "Do you want to bandage your back again?"

Harry found it a bit unnerving, without the usual drawl that he was used to hearing, but even without it, he found himself drawn to the voice. It didn't help when the boy looked at him with those dark eyes, both curious and questioning. He looked away from Severus, not letting his thoughts stray anymore. He couldn't think of things like that. This was his future professor.

His face flushed slightly when he realized that. He felt disgusted with himself, but as a teenage boy, his mind did travel away from the more important things sometimes.

"How bad does it look?" Harry asked, masking his voice to sound indifferent. He sat up a bit and turned his back for a brief moment.

There was a small moment of silence before the other responded. "It's healing, but you need to keep pressure off of the cuts. Try not to lay on them."

"I think I'll survive without those," Harry gave a small smile as he indicated towards the bandages. He'd had worse, that was for sure. Or, as a matter of face, he had worse at the moment then that.

Severus nodded and tossed the bandages aside and went back to the far end of the bed and sat down. Harry ignored the shirt in his lap.

To occupy himself in the deathly quiet room, Harry looked around again, and saw that the books on the floor showed illustrations of potions, and of dark creatures. Go figure.

"You're into the dark arts, huh?" he said, just to make conversation.

The other boy eyed him for a second before nodding. "I've been… intrigued with the study for a long time."

Harry gave him a lop-sided smile. "It's always nice to have a hobby."

He heard Severus grunt something inaudible but didn't ask for him to repeat himself. He sighed slightly and turned over onto his stomach so that he could stretch out on the bed without hurting himself more.

Harry placed his head against his folded arms above his chest and stared at Severus as the other boy began flipping through the pages of a book with black binding.

He stared for a while until the other turned dark eyes on him. Harry resisted the urge to shiver, but didn't quite succeed.

"Cold?" It was a simple question.

"Not exactly," was Harry's only response. He closed his eyes halfway and breathed in deeply. The bed was comfortable enough, and the sheets smelled of some kind of spice.

It was inviting, and lulled Harry into a drowsy state. He wasn't even aware of falling asleep, or of the eyes that watched him carefully as he slowly drifted off into the peaceful rest.

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

He woke to the sound of many birds outside of the window. Once again, as Harry woke up, it took him a few seconds to realize where he was. He squinted against the light and pushed himself up from the slightly springy bed underneath his body. He hardly noticed a blanket falling off of him.

It had to be early morning at least, since the sky was still a dull color - the color right after the sun moves above the horizon and paints the sky a light powder blue.

Harry felt a yawn creep up on him, and tried to stifle it. He looked around the room, even drearier looking in the day. He saw a lump of blankets and what looked like a spare mattress on the floor a few feet away from the bed, and he suspected that it was Severus.

He mused to himself how easily the name came to mind. Severus. Not Snape, but Severus.

He smiled widely, thinking of how eerie all that had to be. He was almost positive that everything had to be a dream, but sadly, when he pinched himself, he felt the pain clearly.

Well, it was a messed up reality, at least.

Harry scooted himself to the edge of the bed, looking around himself. There was a crumpled up blanket that he had pushed off himself next to him, along with a book that must have been abandoned the night before from Severus.

Speaking of him, had he been the one to put the blanket on Harry? Said boy shook his head slowly, getting the bizarre thought out of his head.

Not that it would have mattered. He figured nothing could get any worse. He was 'stuck back in time' - the only conclusion they'd come up with that matched anything, staying at the younger version of his potions professors house, and to make things worse: no one else could see him.

Harry groaned loudly in annoyance and closed his eyes, running his fingers though his hair. It seemed that no matter where he was, things were messed up.

No matter where he was, something had to happen to him - and none of it was ever good.

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

Severus was roughly woken up by noises inside his room. It was slightly unnerving when he'd never had to worry about that before, since no one would come to his house - actually, he'd never let them.

Firstly, with annoyance, he realized that his green-eyed stranger must have woken up. It was only obvious, due to the loud creaking of the bed as the boy moved. But that wasn't the most distracting thing.

What caught Severus' unsuspecting attention, had been when the boy had let out a soft groan. He blushed violently at the noise, cursing himself for such actions. He knew that it was only a sound of annoyance itself, but just the noise coming from him made it sound worse than it really was.

Severus tried prying all thoughts from his mind. It wasn't working well, but he was determined to get his mind off of the other, more mysterious boy.

He ripped the blankets from his head, squinting at the light that filtered into his room from the window. But he nearly choked on his own breath at what he saw - not that it was anything vulgar.

Just the fact that a half-naked, beautiful boy sat on his bed, eyes closed and face nearly impassive in thought, left Severus' skin itching in a way he'd never felt before.

It nearly reminded him of the night before, when Harry had finally laid down for bed; he had been stretched out on his stomach, looking so innocent yet dangerous at the same time.

He shivered.

"Oh… good morning."

Severus nearly jumped in surprise. He hadn't expected Harry to open those startling eyes.

"Morning," he replied stiffly, not liking having been caught staring. Harry didn't seem to notice though.

"Why'd you sleep down there?" the other boy asked suddenly, eyes focused on his makeshift bed.

Severus shrugged. "You fell asleep, so I just camped out on the floor. Not like I cared, though."

"You could have just kicked me off of the bed, you know," came the laughing response. Severus nearly scowled, but had no response to that.

There was a minute of silence as Severus fully awoke to more calming things, such as the dim light, the smell of morning, and the vague smell of something cooking further down the house.

Finally, Harry broke the quiet. "What's on the agenda, today?"

"What?" Severus asked, surprised. He hadn't thought of that. Was he supposed to entertain this guest of his?

"You know, what's going to happen today? What are we doing?" he asked then grinned. "Got a social life?"

Severus was appalled at the blunt question, but at the same time, was ashamed to answer truthfully. Instead, he stretched the truth.

"I'd rather not mix with children," he stated.

"Not everyone is a child," came Harry's lively reply. "I'm not one, am I?"

Severus glared, but it was hard to when Harry stared expectantly at him. He cursed himself. Why must this boy leave him nearly incapable of thought?

"I take that as a…" he tapped at his chin for a mere second before grinning. Severus didn't like that look. "No."

"No?"

"You don't think I'm a child. I'll have to admit that I'm not," he said cheekily, but Severus noticed that the cheerfulness never fully reached his eyes.

Severus was about to ask why, but bit his tongue to prevent himself from speaking. He didn't want to know the answer to that, and he feared that he'd offend the other boy.

"Well, you never answered my question," Harry stated.

The dark eyed boy looked up, his eyes taking in the fact that Harry was now getting off the bed and rummaging around for something along the bed.

"What question?"

"What we're doing today."

"I hardly count that one as a question," Severus said dryly.

Harry gave another frustrated groan, and Severus had to bite his lip to keep himself from thinking off track again. He wanted to curse Harry for his mere voice.

"Don't you have a hangout, or something?" he inquired, finally finding what he was looking for. It was the shirt Severus had given him the previous night, which he promptly pulled over his head, mussing his hair worse than it already was.

"Hangout?"

"How about a… place that you party at? You do party, right?"

"Oh yes," Severus said sarcastically after a second. "I go to parties ever other night to get a good shag."

Harry's eyes widened and to Severus' great amusement, he nearly gagged. "W-what?"

"That was sarcasm."

He could nearly see the gears in Harry's mind turning slowly as he tried to dissolve the three words. When he finally understood, he glared murderously at him.

"That's just sick, you arse."

Severus rose an eyebrow. "Sick?"

"You're my professor! I don't want to think about you shagging someone-"

"Okay!" Severus growled out, annoyed. He was starting to forget that the boy wasn't from his… er, era. "I get it, I wont talk about sex anymore."

That set Harry into a small fit of laughter. Severus was a bit surprised at himself for talking about such things around a complete stranger. But he was comfortable with this other boy.

He shook his head, wondering what was so funny about what he'd said, so he waited as the other boys laughter finally faded.

After he had gotten a hold of himself, Harry finally suggested that they go out and do something, quoting, "While I'm here, I might as well have some fun".

So, after about an hour after they had woken up, they decided to go grab a bite to eat at a nearby café with what money Severus could scrounge up, and afterwards, decided on a place to hang for a while.

Needless to say, the experience was one that Severus wouldn't forget.

.x.x.x.x.CHAPTER BREAK.x.x.x.x.

A/N: YAY!