CHAPTER 21

A/N: No, Harry is not in the room during Severus's and Marius's argument. Severus dismissed him beforehand, and Marius visited the dungeons a few minutes later – it's in the paragraph before the last dialogue of the chapter.
Okay, so I was so delighted with Johnny Weir (American figure skater) winning the bronze medal in Sweden that I hammered out this chapter!

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"So you want me, Rivers?" Severus whispered. "Well, that is out of the question. I am not something you can want, like a product you can remove from a shelf, throw away and then retrieve from the trash, or replace with another product. I am not your toy, Rivers. You, as a Healer, should know how to treat people."

"I believe that you are rather hard on your students, Severus."

"At least my students are aware of it."

"I do not treat people like things, Severus."

Severus stared into Marius's eyes, carefully probing the man's feelings with Legilimency. Severus had often thought if he had known Legilimency back then, then he would not have fallen into Marius's trap. But now he was a Master Legilimens, and he could probe people's minds without their knowledge, especially if he distracted them with skilful dialogue. It was tremendously difficult to do such a thing – listen and talk to the other person and invade his or her mind at the same time.

"You only want to profit from people, Rivers. You could be a servant of the Dark Lord sent to establish an elaborate hoax in order to be stationed at Hogwarts and try to find a-"

Marius's grey eyes flashed.

"I was tested thoroughly beforehand, and I abhor You-Know-Who's activities. In fact, it is you, Severus, who serves him."

"And still you say that you want me," Severus laughed mockingly and subtly breaking the Legilimentic link by blinking but not averting his eyes from Marius's grey ones. He had got the information he wanted during those few seconds. He had discerned guilt in Marius. Guilt towards Severus, and sexual desire because Marius considered Severus powerful. Severus, after all, taught Harry Potter, was close to one of the most skilled wizards in the world and held an impressive post at a prestigious school. In addition, Severus had direct access to Voldemort. Severus also caught genuine feelings of affection towards himself – but affection like someone would have towards a decorative little lapdog. Severus felt his lip curl with scorn. So that was what Marius wanted. Sex and power, and the opportunity to get both simultaneously. And finally, Severus discovered, with a strong twinge of disgust, the desire to seduce Harry Potter.

Severus Snape was a vindictive man. He could profit from Marius. Merlin, he had not had satisfactory sex for such a long time!…and he could kick Marius out just like Marius had given him the boot…But the most important thing was to keep Marius away from Harry Potter.

"You want Harry Potter. Fame is attractive, isn't it, Rivers? He is an adult, he is known to be gay thanks to the media, he is most probably sexually inexperienced – he's just the right kind of prey for you, isn't that so, Rivers? But apart from that boring brat…"

He approached his lips to Marius's ear, pushing back the thick brown hair with one hand, his body pressed against Marius's tall figure. Gently, Severus ground his hips against Marius's.

"Tell me…Marius…does it arouse you to know how dangerous my other…profession…is?"

He could hear Marius's breathing accelerate.

"Would you like to fuck me again?" Severus's hand slid down and grasped Marius's hip, crushing their abdomens together.

"Do you want to hear me call out your name when I come?" Severus continued, his voice silky and seductive. Marius gasped softly.

"I want to fuck you, Marius," Severus murmured to him, increasing the movements of his hips. Marius's body tensed; the Healer started to pant, and when his fingers dug into Severus's back, Severus, familiar with Marius's body and reactions even after so many years of not seeing him, recognised the signs from the past; Marius was close to the point of maximum pleasure. Severus planned his moment of revenge with exquisite preciseness, and when Marius began to moan, he shoved Marius away from him. Startled, Marius stumbled backwards and fell onto his backside. Severus approached him and placed his booted foot between his parted thighs, nudging Marius's crotch.

"If we are done-" a nudge with the boot, "-with talking," – another nudge, "then I suggest that you leave my office, Rivers. Now."

Severus withdrew his foot. Marius got up, his face flushed with mortification.

"You are well versed in the art of revenge, Snape," he remarked, trying to keep his voice under control. He was still breathing heavily with arousal.

"Now you know," Severus drawled, returning to his desk. He dipped his quill into the inkwell and started to grade essays, ignoring Marius's burning stare. Marius turned and left, shoulders rigid with humiliation and fury. Severus continued correcting the essay, only interrupting his work to go up to the Great Hall for dinner.

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In the meantime, Harry was brooding in the Gryffindor common room after having dinner and finishing his homework. Hermione and Ron were talking quietly a corner, occasionally exchanging a kiss. In their sixth year, the students had received compulsory sex education lessons from Madam Pomfrey. Harry had been pleased to see that homosexuality and bisexuality were also included and discussed as the perfectly normal sexual preferences they were. Harry had been rather pleasantly surprised that Wizarding Britain was quite open-minded about homosexuality, considering its hostility and prejudices towards werewolves or the powerful little elves whom they had brainwashed into servitude. Same-sex couples could marry and adopt children without major obstacles. On the other hand, conservative people, especially the so-called Purebloods, disapproved of homosexuality. Harry could imagine the "values" which had been hammered into Draco Malfoy's mind. He was wondering if he would ever find a man who would love him the way he was, someone who would love him as Harry, the person he truly was, without all that burdening fame. Maybe a Muggle would love him that way. A Muggle would not know about Harry's fame. But he would also not know about the wizarding world…And how could he possibly waste his thoughts on a trivial thing like love when there was a murderous wizard reaching out for him all the time? And if he did find love at this stage, then his partner would be in as much danger as himself. Voldemort would be keen on targeting that person…Harry sighed and closed his eyes. He had been born to finish off a wizard, not to be loved. Harry turned his attention to a fresh block of wood sitting next to him on the sofa. He had plans to carve an owl this time. For this purpose, he would use Hedwig as a model. Harry jumped up and went in quest of the Owlery. He soon returned with Hedwig clinging to his arm.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked her. She hooted, inspecting the piece of wood. Harry sketched her outline on a large piece of paper, coaxing Hedwig every now and then to move as little as possible. When he had finished, he returned with her to the Owlery, pressed his cheek for a moment against her feathery head and gave her a couple of treats. She nibbled fondly as his fingers.

"Another bird?" Ron when Harry walked inside the common room. He was studying the sketch Harry had left on the table. Hermione was playing Gobstones with Ginny.

"I like birds."

"How about a human being for a change? Or a dragon?"

"Maybe."

"Something wrong, mate?" Ron wanted to know.

"Nothing."

"Something is always wrong when you talk in monosyllables."

"Just tired, Ron. I had Occlumency today. I'm improving, but it's tiring nevertheless."

The truth was that Harry had seen more flashes of Severus's memories, including moments of passionate trysts between Severus and Marius besides shouting matches between Severus's parents. Learning such personal information about his detested Potions Master unnerved him; also, it had never occurred to him to regard or any of other his teachers – least of all Severus Snape – as people who "got down to business", as Ron liked to put it. Seeing a passionate Severus was confusing to him, considering how cold and solitary the man was. Something had probably gone wrong, maybe even horribly wrong, with the relationship, Harry thought. Maybe Marius had cheated on Severus? Marius had been unusually charming to Harry. The side effect of being famous – especially unwillingly famous – was that he was especially cautious around people who expressed a marked interest in him; he did not trust Marius Rivers at all. He recalled the Polyjuiced Alastor Moody in his fourth year. He abruptly picked up the block of wood, determined to clear his head from such gloomy reflections. It was important for him to relax after having to ward off so many Legilimentic attacks from Severus, who no longer commented on the memories which he gleaned from Harry's mind during the fifteen or twenty seconds Harry took to collect his forces and ward off the attack. In the books on mental magic, he had read that the whole particularly beginners of Occlumency and Legilimency tended to feel physically and mentally drained. He hoped that he would be able to just the same fend off the nightmares which he knew would visit him at night.

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Marius Rivers followed Severus out of the Great Hall after dinner.

"Severus. Please wait."

"What do you want now?" Severus snapped, his dark eyes blazing.

"I still want you," Marius said, boldly grabbing Severus's hand. Severus snatched his fingers away.

"There is always autoerotic stimulation. And there are other people, Rivers. You cannot say that your choice is limited to my person," Severus answered, surveying him coldly from head to toe.

"It's not the same thing!"

"Why not?" Severus asked curtly.

"What we had back then, you and I…it was passionate."

Severus narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He decided to profit from Marius. Why not get some sex free of charge for a change? he thought cynically.

"Yes, it was passionate," he admitted.

Their gazes smouldered.

"You want me, too," Marius whispered.

"I remember that your performance was quite inspiring," Severus agreed loftily. Marius laughed.

"That's one thing which has not changed. Your sarcasm and vocabulary."

"What a relief for you," was Severus's dry answer.

Another deep gaze.

"No strings attached?" Marius said finally.

"Obviously," Severus said with a curl of his lip.

"Blood test?"

"I'll send you my test receipt if you send me yours. However, I insist on condoms."

"Fine, no problem. I also have a strict safety policy. When shall we inaugurate our arrangement?" Marius asked casually.

"Tomorrow night," Severus said succinctly.

"What time?"

"Ten will do."

"Your quarters or mine?" Marius asked.

"Be my host."

Marius smiled.

"I'll see you then, Severus," he said, his voice slightly husky.

"I certainly hope that our activities will surpass the visual," Severus commented, striding away.

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