Chapter 4

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

"What do you mean you're going to Scotland again? You just went last weekend," Severus said hotly.

"It's Hermione's birthday," he reasoned. That was the truth, but there was also things to be planned.

Severus had sent him the information on Rita a few days ago and Hermione had been busily dissecting every piece of it. She wanted them all to come so that they could plan their next move, there was obviously something she had found that was worthwhile.

"Are you seeing someone else?" Severus asked after a moment.

"Are you serious!?" Harry asked outraged. "You're asking if I'm seeing someone else. I know I used to be a whore, but you knew all about that Severus. I'm not that kind of person. It's one of my best mate's birthdays and you're asking me that. Why don't you ask your babysitter once we're back?"

"I'm sorry, it just seems as though something or someone else has caught your attention lately," Severus said after a moment.

"You're always working, and I can't cater to your schedule. Not all of the time. I sit here most of the time with a completely clear slate, but I can't just cancel on her birthday. Next weekend if that's good with you, you can spend the whole weekend sitting in my flat with me," Harry declared. "You need to like give me a heads up if you're going to come over, like send me a text message it's common courtesy. Like, I don't mind you coming at all, but I don't like you barging in, because right now this is my space and I'm trying to make the best of it."

"Are you not happy?" Severus asked quietly.

"No, I"m fucking miserable. I can't come home with you. I wasn't able to see you for months and then when you do get a chance to come around you drop in like you're checking on a neighbor's cat while they're away on holiday. I feel like a pit stop!" Harry went on. "It's like you care more about what Rita Skeeter was up to today than me."

"I'm truly sorry," Severus started.

"Here you should keep this for now," Harry said putting the engagement ring in his hand. "Til you're sure that I'm what you want."

"I am sure, keep it," Severus insisted.

"No, when the time is right give it back to me," Harry said shaking his head. "We're not exactly in a position to get married right now anyway."

"Do you not want to see me anymore?" Severus asked stricken by Harry's words.

"Of course I want to see you, you big idiot! Why do you think I'm so upset. I feel like you've only been seeing me out of obligation!"

"Trust me, I want to see you more than I want to see the sun rising every morning," Severus said kissing him lightly. "You shine brighter than the sun ever could for me, I'm blinded by how magnificent you are."

"Then show it," Harry hissed.

After their argument, Severus excused himself to go and shower, and afterwards quickly dressed and said he had to go, but left Seamus with Harry. Harry regarded the man with little interest and simply told himself to help himself to anything in the fridge. He then went to shower himself and decided he had to get out of the flat. He couldn't just sit there and stew in their argument.

It felt odd having Seamus trail him down the street, and he had to fight the impulse to ditch the man immediately. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, Draco and Neville were busy following Rita around, and his presence would more than likely draw negative attention from the woman. He finally just decided to get a coffee and stew in the window of the shop and watch everyone go on about their day.

He sat down at the table alone and Seamus sat a few tables away from him. He sighed at the sight of the man and did his best to ignore him. He had a few texts from Severus, but he was still mad and just ignored them.

It was pathetic that they were fighting so hard for the right to stay together, but here they were growing distant on their own watch. Arguing and fighting sort of defeated the purpose of all the work they were putting into taking Rita out of the picture. They didn't have a united front, they were both leading two different fronts in the same direction. He knew that he should tell Severus what he was up to, but some part of him felt that he couldn't trust the man not to intervene. He and the others needed free reign to be able to do as they pleased, and Severus was convinced that his method was the better one. Harry hated to tell him, but his method was just going to lead to another standoff. That was another thing he was going to have to work towards, delaying Severus from taking any actual action. He could set off a chain of events that would only make things harder for them in the future.

'Please, talk to me,' Severus texted him again and he sighed in annoyance.

Without responding, he pocketed his phone and tossed his empty cup into the trash and headed out of the shop.

Not wanting to go home yet, he went in search of a present for Hermione. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he sighed pulling it out.

'Don't make plans to come up this weekend. My parents want me to come home, so Ron and I will be coming to London. Have loads to talk about. See you soon!' He smiled at the thought of not having to make the trip.

'See you then. :)'

He sent a message to give Draco and Neville a heads up and wandered into a secondhand shop to look for anything that might make a good gift. He would probably end up buying her, her usual gift of some sort of rare first edition book she'd mentioned before, but he wanted to find something else for her this year. She was putting so much effort into helping him and he wanted to make sure that sure knew how much that he appreciated it.

While looking through the shop he came across an antique science kit, it was in an old metal case and was filled with loads of old looking things. There were some beakers and a microscope, and what looked to be an old journal. Despite how mad he was, it made him think of Severus. He picked it up and decided to buy it for the man. Maybe he could give it to him as a christmas present, or when he wasn't so mad. That was if Seamus didn't spoil the fun by reporting back to Severus what he had picked up.

"You can't tell him I bought this," Harry said looking up at the man. "It's a present for Severus and you'll ruin the surprise."

The man didn't say anything and only offered a curt nod in return.

After more searching Harry managed to come across something that caught his eye. It was a thin, gold necklace with an open book charm hanging on the chain. Hermione was never big on jewelry, but this had caught his eye and he knew it would be perfect. It just had Hermione written all over it. He just hoped that she liked it as much as he thought she would.

After paying for his things Harry headed out of the shop and back out onto the street where it had started to rain. Opting out of getting drenched, he hailed a cab and after a little persuading got Seamus to agree to ride as well. He might not like the man being with him, but he also didn't see the need for the man to walk or take a separate car. He sat in silence on the short trip and ignored the number of times that his phone buzzed. He did take the time to notice that every time he ignored a text from Severus, Seamus's phone would light up. No doubt the man was checking up on him and trying to deduce why Harry wouldn't be answering his texts. That just succeeded in making him even angrier than he already was. Seamus was meant to be a barrier between him and Rita Skeeter, not as a means to keep tabs for Severus. He was going to have to make sure that line was clearly drawn.

When he got out of the cab onto the sidewalk, Severus got out of the car that was parked outside of his door. Harry grimaced at the sight of the man and headed for his door.

"I did text to say that I was coming, several times in fact," Severus said tactfully.

"What do you want?" Harry said turning around in a huff.

"To make you dinner, and to talk, if you're unhappy you've got to communicate with me as to why. I can't read your mind, and I can't fix something I do not know the details of."

Harry turned back to unlocking the door and mulled over whether or not to let the man come up. Finally, stepped aside to let the man pass, but he shook his head.

"I'll be up in a moment. I need to collect a few things from the car."

Harry shrugged noncommittally and headed up the stairs on his own. He let himself in and went straight into his room to dispose of the presents under his bed. When he came out Severus was already unloading his shopping bags. Out of habit, Harry went to help, but Severus batted him away and told him to sit.

"I don't really feel like eating," Harry frowned.

"Why not? Is it because you're still upset with me?" Severus asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm just tired and ill," Harry shook his head and pulled his feet up into his chair so he could hug his knees.

"Let me check your temperature," the man said going into the bathroom in search of a thermometer.

"I don't think I have one," Harry shrugged when the man came back empty handed.

Harry sighed as Severus brushed back his hair and felt his forehead with the back of his hand. The man tutted in disapproval and fetched the blanket on the back of the couch and wrapped it around him.

"You've got a bit of a fever. You shouldn't have gone out today, unless it was to go to the doctor," he said pointedly.

"I felt better earlier," Harry protested.

"Come then, to bed with you," the man said hoisting him up into his arms and carrying him into his room and depositing him on the bed.

"Will you stay?" Harry asked and the man nodded.

"I cancelled a whole day of meetings to spend time with you, and I intend to even if you're sleeping. I'll go out and get you something for your fever."

Harry didn't remember dozing off or how long he had been out. All he remembered was Severus coming back with the medicine for him and after that he had slipped off to sleep. When he woke up he was drenched in sweat from his broken fever and Severus was asleep beside of him. He sat up cautiously and pulled off his shirt and climbed out of bed. He padded into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He felt disgusting and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep at this point without the shower. He climbed in and sighed at the contact with the warm water and started to shampoo his hair.

When he had finished he tip toed back into the bedroom and pulled on some pants and a shirt. He then slid back into bed to be greeted by a kiss from Severus.

"Feeling better?" The man asked huskily, his voice laced with sleep.

"Much. Thank you for taking care of me," Harry smiled into another kiss.

"I miss kissing you goodnight," Severus said crawling on top of him to kiss him again.

"Me too."

Severus kissed him again and slid his hand up Harry's shirt feeling his chest and stomach. It wasn't long before Harry had lost his shirt completely, and Severus was kissing his way down Harry's neck and onto his chest.

"You love me more than I deserve, Harry," Severus said coming up to kiss his mouth again.

Harry woke up with daylight bleeding through the curtains in his bedroom. It was like the only purpose it served was to annoy him. He rolled over and buried his head in Severus' chest and tried to go back to sleep.

"You can't still be tired," Severus said kissing the top of his head. "You slept for roughly 12 hours."

"More like 10, because I vaguely remember a midnight tryst," Harry grinned.

"Ah, my mistake," the man said pulling him closer.

"I'm not going to Scotland," Harry said after a moment.

"Oh, why not?"

"Hermione and Ron are coming to London. I'm going to take them to dinner for her birthday. Would you like to come?" Harry mused running his fingers across Severus' pale stomach.

"When?"

"Saturday night," Harry said lightly.

"I would love to, but I've got a dinner meeting with an investor from Hong Kong," Severus said apologetically. "But next time. You go and have fun."

"Thanks," Harry smiled to himself.

Harry put the kettle on while Severus busied himself with taking a shower. He poked around the kitchen putting things away and the dishes into the sink. Severus had made dinner while he was sleeping and Harry found the leftovers in the fridge when he went to get the milk.

Something about his relationship with Severus felt lighter, last night had been really nice, and he just hope it wasn't a one off. He was scared that the man would get wrapped up in work again and things would start to unravel again. Then there was the topic of Seamus he wasn't sure how to bring that up, or to make it clear that the man was a bodyguard and not a spy. He didn't need Severus to spy on him, and on Saturday he was going to ask that the man stay behind. He would be in a group of his friends and didn't see the need for the man to tail him through the city.

"I don't want Seamus to come with me Saturday night," Harry confessed as Severus came into the small kitchen.

"Why not?"

"It's meant to be a fun night out celebrating Hermione's birthday and no one is going to have fun if he's tagging along," Harry sighed.

"Fine then, not Saturday night then," Severus conceded.

"Thank you," Harry said hugging him tightly. "But there's one more thing."

"Which is?" Severus asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want you to use Seamus for personal reasons. Like I understand him reporting back to you at the end of each day if anything were to happen, but I do not want you using him to keep tabs on me. If I go to the coffee shop he doesn't need to shoot you a text message telling you," Harry said quietly and looked to the man to to gage his reaction.

"That's his job," Severus started slowly. "If something were to happen and he didn't alert me that you are indeed safe and at home, then I would know that something is wrong."

"It's glorified babysitting!" Harry protested. "I agreed to let him follow me around because I knew it would make you feel better, but this doesn't make me feel better."

"He stays, and he does his job," Severus said calmly. "Now I must be off, I have to go to work."

Severus kissed him on the forehead and wished him a good day and was out the door.

So much for things being lighter he thought and scowled when he spotted Seamus sitting outside his doorway. At least Severus had conceded to Saturday he grumbled to himself.

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!